If there were any efficacy to it we wouldn’t be shattering overuse injury occurrence records in our youth.
“We use the term ‘arm care training’ in an effort to dupe parents into ‘specific’ temporary band aid training.
Real arm care is easy.
-Strengthen muscles, tendons, and ligaments.
-Appropriately dose & manage throwing volume.
The problem is the truth doesn’t sell as well.”
-Ray Zingler on X
It’s time we start calling a spade a spade.
It’s this time of year baseball organizations start heavily pushing “arm care” as the late Fall/Winter is obviously baseball slow season.
I find it funny that we only push this arm “care” narrative during the miniscule period of time that the kids have “off” (are slightly less busy) from throwing sports.
Is it really about arm care or is it looking for a way to pat adult pockets during the cold months?
Because if it was really about arm care wouldn’t we be pushing this narrative 12 months a year? Ya know, because it’s “all about the kids”?
And to take it a step further, does this arm care training thing we push on kids for 3 months actually do anything?
If it was so great and beneficial, why are we shattering records for overuse injury occurrences in youth athletes?
We’ve been pushing this fall/winter arm care narrative for years now and the injury numbers are only being accelerated even with LESS kids participating in sport.
It’s because it’s snake oil.
No, not the concept of arm care, obviously I believe in the importance of arm care and I know for certain some of the modalities used in traditional “arm care training” are sound and beneficial.
It’s how we go about marketing and selling arm care to leverage kids time and parent’s money.
I’ve been doing arm care training with kids for the last 4,700+ consecutive days of my life.
Arm care is not a 3-month program of throwing weighted balls into a net.
It is an unending construct that should be prioritized 12 months a year.
Real arm care is not a flashy packet pushed by a baseball coach who doesn’t understand the physiological demands and orthopedic costs of overprescribed sport.
Real arm care is painfully simple.
Here’s the real formula:
1) Strengthen muscles, tendons, and ligaments to support the demands of sport.
2) Appropriately dose & manage throwing volume.
In other words, get stronger year-round, and take time off, do other things, and rest.
If we did this, we’d watch performance increase and injury occurrence decrease right before our eyes.
The problem is there is little money to be made when utilizing sensible approaches.
