By Jonathan Massey –
A few weeks ago I was emailing a Durathro™ member who was coming off an arm injury and had recently been cleared to pitch again. After his first game back he reached out and said that he had no pain and was ready to get back to work. I responded with, “That’s awesome. How does your arm feel?”
He wrote me back and said his arm is pain free. Only bicep soreness.
I responded immediately trying to get some clarification, how much soreness and exactly where was the soreness?
He said not that much… feels like it’s being stretched out.
I wrote immediately again, this time being a little firmer. I asked him to grade his soreness 0-10, with 10 being extreme soreness/almost pain. He responds with 3/4.
So after about 45 minutes and about 10 emails, I finally got him to put a number to his soreness. If you read all that, and thought, “oh no, that’s me…” trust me you aren’t the first and won’t be the last to fall into this word game.
It’s not pain, it’s soreness. It’s not pain, it’s tenderness. It’s not pain, it’s tightness, it’s fatigue, etc. I’ve even had a person go as far as saying it’s normal post-game soreness.
We don’t like the word pain or discomfort, so we lie to ourselves and call it a different name. And to go back to our young man from earlier, it’s only going to take a certain pitch count, a number of innings, an increase in velocity, or a shortened recovery period until his 3/4 soreness turns into something more serious.
Am I sitting here telling you that after you get done throwing 100 pitches in a game that your arm should feel perfectly fine? Of course not. But we shouldn’t just accept that pitching equals pain. The discomfort is a sign of being disconnected, and the degree of discomfort is an indication of how disconnected we are. Being a 2 after 100 pitches is a small disconnection, being an 8 after 100 pitches is a sign of being extremely disconnected.
As I’ve heard Coach Wolforth say time and time again your arm will tell you everything you need to know. You just have to listen to it.
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Important TBR Updates
- Our August and September EPBC’s are now sold out! We have released the Fall/Winter dates for our Elite Pitcher’s Boot Camps and registration is now open with spots filling up quick! Click here to register.
- Our once a year Youth Pitchers camp dates have been set for October 15th and 16th. Space is limited to only 24 athletes. “Early Bird” registration (save $250) is good through August 22nd, click here to learn more and register now!
- Our Elites Catcher’s Boot Camp is scheduled for December 9-11th. Details to follow. If you’d like to be placed on our Priority Notification list, email Jill@TexasBaseballRanch.com.
