The Importance of Stretching to Throw

The action of throwing a baseball is sort of an unnatural movement for the human body. While the shoulder is capable of making the circular motion to throw, throwing an object overhead with force is not. As you keep throwing, the muscles in your shoulder will continue to tighten up making it more difficult to throw or possibly cause your body to compensate with another body part that could potentially cause injury. So, it is critically important to make sure that the arm and body are warmed up properly to help avoid injury. Listed below are five easy stretches to help make sure you are warmed up before throwing.

Arm Circles
Place your arms out to the side and make small circles with your palms up. Make sure you do these for thirty seconds in a clockwise direction followed by a counterclockwise direction. 

Genie Stretch
Place your arms folded out in front of you. Grab your elbow with your hand and pull your arm across the body. Making sure that the scapular muscles are loose to help with arm deceleration is an important part of arm care.

Door Stretch
Place your arm at a 90-degree angle with your hand up at the side of your body. Lay your forearm on the  door frame or a fence post and walk forward until you feel a stretch.

Triceps Stretch
Bend your arm overhead and grab your elbow and pull your arm toward the opposite of the body until you feel a stretch in your triceps.

Forearm Stretch
Straighten your arm out in front of you and extend your wrist upwards. Pull back on your fingertips until you feel a stretch in your forearm. Once done, flex your wrist downwards and push your fingertip towards your body until you feel a stretch.