Often referred to as a scaled-down version of baseball, is the sport of fast-pitch softball. Therefore, in the past 20 years, sports medicine research has been successful in emphasizing kinetic chain efficiency for proper pitching mechanics, as well as implementing organizational sanctions to monitor and limit pitch counts in an attempt to curtail fatigue in youth baseball pitchers. One particular modifiable risk factor that is thoroughly recognized within throwing and injury prevention is depicting the body as a kinetic chain and thus kinetic chain efficiency as a means of improving dynamic throwing mechanics. Throughout the years of youth baseball research, a common consensus of risk factors has emerged. James Andrews and the American Sports Medicine Institute have worked to not only regulate pitch counts in Little League Baseball, but also to educate the masses regarding baseball pitching, injury susceptibility, and injury prevention. Within the sports medicine community, there is considerable interest in youth baseball pitching and injury prevention. Though times are changing, it still seems that we are behind on understanding the mechanics of the windmill softball pitch from a clinical sports medicine perspective of injury prevention and performance enhancement. Key wordsĪrm slot, injury prevention, throwing, rehabilitation, windmill softball pitch Background and purpose

The reality is that the true difference between the two pitches is the arm slot.

Though if we take a step away from the traditional rhetoric, we can describe both the baseball and softball pitch as dynamic upper extremity movements that requires the body to efficiently generate and transfer energy in a proximal to distal sequencing. Within this traditional rhetoric, one assumes vast differences in the two pitching styles and thus, the common misconception of the underhand softball pitch producing less stress to the upper extremity when compared to the overhand baseball pitch. Traditionally, the baseball pitch is considered overhanded or overhead while the softball pitch is underhanded.

Overhand and underhand throw article