“Contact me if you have trouble hitting your target!” – Coach Skip Fast.
Your kinetic chain and Proprioception unleash your Lower Body
Suppose your throwing arm is in good shape, your starting pitching position is off balance, and you can’t get the ball where you want. In that case, it’s a direct consequence of the disrupted proprioception and inefficient kinetic chain stemming from that unstable foundation.
Definitions
- Proprioception is your body’s ability to sense its position, movement, and orientation in space. It’s often described as the “sixth sense” or body awareness. Specialized receptors in muscles, tendons, and joints provide this information to the nervous system.
- The kinetic chain refers to the interconnected segments of the body (legs, hips, core, torso, shoulder, arm, and hand) that work together in a coordinated sequence to produce force and motion. In pitching, energy is generated from the ground up, transferring through these segments like a whip uncoiling.
The Vicious Cycle of Imbalance and Poor Command
- Off-Balance Start Disrupts Proprioception: An unstable starting position impairs your body’s ability to sense its position and orientation in space accurately. This faulty proprioceptive feedback makes establishing a consistent and repeatable posture difficult.
- Compromised Kinetic Chain Initiation: The starting position is the first link in the kinetic chain. If it’s off balance, the subsequent energy transfer through your legs, hips, core, torso, shoulder, and arm is inefficient and potentially misdirected. You’re essentially starting the chain with a wobble.
- Inconsistent Mechanics: Because your body doesn’t have a stable and well-sensed starting point, it struggles to repeat the complex sequence of movements required for a consistent pitching delivery.This leads to variations in:
- Stride Length and Direction: An unstable base causes you to stride inconsistently, affecting your momentum and direction towards the plate.
- Hip and Shoulder Rotation: The timing and amount of rotation in your hips and shoulders are challenging to control, leading to inconsistent power generation and direction.
- Arm Path: Your arm’s path as you bring the ball forward likely varies, making it hard to achieve a consistent release point.
- Release Point: The moment the ball leaves your fingers is crucial for accuracy. An inconsistent delivery, stemming from an off-balance start, makes finding and repeating the optimal release point nearly impossible.
- Loss of Feel and Command: Command in pitching relies heavily on consistently executing your mechanics and feeling the subtle adjustments needed to locate the ball. With a compromised proprioceptive sense and an inefficient kinetic chain, this “feel” for the pitch is diminished.
- Compensation and Further Imbalance: When you can’t get the ball where you want, you subconsciously try to compensate during your delivery. These compensatory movements, often stemming from the initial imbalance, further disrupt your mechanics, exacerbate the proprioceptive issues, and lead to even more inconsistency and potential injury.
An off-balance starting position creates a ripple effect throughout your entire pitching motion. It disrupts your internal sense of body position, hinders the efficient transfer of power, leads to inconsistent mechanics, and ultimately results in a loss of command and the inability to locate your pitches effectively.
