A Family's Last Hope Was Velocity Rx

A misread MRI, a rushed surgery recommendation, and a family searching for answers—this story tracks a teenage catcher’s long road from chronic shoulder and back pain to a confident, pain-free throw. We walk through the turning points: why three orthopedists said “no tear” while one pushed the knife, how a second MRI with a trusted reader changed the narrative, and what happened when we stopped chasing symptoms and rebuilt the kinetic chain instead.

You’ll hear how we used clear video angles and a simple Game Test to reveal the real culprits: poor scapular coordination and a lat caught between shoulder and pelvis duties. From there, the plan got smaller, not bigger—high-rep scapular depression holds, sub-centimeter chair lifts, and isometric work that reconnected brain to body. As control returned, we layered skill with the front-foot-strike, three-tap, and finish drills to restore rhythm, downhill posture, and smooth release. No tall-and-fall shortcuts. No band carnivals. Just repeatable mechanics that put the athlete in charge of every inch of the movement.

The result? Pain that lingered for days after tournaments disappeared. Command improved. Velocity likely ticked up, but more importantly, the throw felt easy again. The mom now filters every provider with a simple test: do they speak the kinetic chain? If you’re a parent or athlete stuck between conflicting diagnoses and quick fixes, this conversation shows how to demand clarity, measure progress on video, and choose the boring drills that actually change your game.

If this helped, follow the show, share it with a teammate, and leave a review with the one drill you’re adopting this week. Your feedback helps more families find a smarter path back to play.

Transcript

Welcome And Case Setup

SPEAKER_02 0:01

Hey everybody, this is Dr. Kevin McGovern and this is another Velocity RX podcast. And today's podcast is really dedicated to a player's result. We have Nick and Nick's mom here to talk about a really interesting case that we've been working together for nine months now at least, and just felt bad when I heard this this kid's story of a multitude of injuries, and I won't begin to even tell it correctly, so I'm not going to do that. I'm going to let them tell their story of where they started and where they're at now. So we're going to start with mom because mom really rang home with me because as we were just talking off air, you know, she did sound desperate and I felt bad because I knew that some things were really missed that were basic to me, but apparently not basic to maybe other providers they had gone. I'm not crapping on them. It just people have different approaches and I just things that were glaring that I think should have been done. So without further ado, from freezing Boston to very warm Texas through the power of Zoom and the internet, here we go. So, Mom, tell me, tell me, first of all, tell me how you found me and then kind of what what this what happened.

How Mom Found Kevin Online

SPEAKER_00 1:24

You just kept popping up on my Instagram and Facebook feeds because of all the all of the research that I had been doing on shoulders and labrums and tears and surgery and alternative options for treatment. And yeah, you just kept popping up after I did all those searches, and I I kept following you. It was probably three or four months I was following you and just watching all of the things that you were doing and you were making sense to me. And I was seeing the the results of some of your clients and their testimonials, and I just I literally out of honest, honestly, it was desperation and panic. I would have never done this, just randomly reached out to somebody on the internet. But, you know, I had been watching you and I'd seen the results, so I just reached out and I I basically asked my first question was do you do you work with catchers? Because he's primarily a catcher or has been for quite a quite a while.

SPEAKER_02 2:32

And at the time I was working with a kid by the name of Austin Rule who's Yeah, you were, and that's what really caught my eye. Yeah. Yeah, so that caught my eye. Twitter, maybe it was usually usually social, usually direct social media to me. They're never good. They're always someone, you know, the I would say one out of ten. You know, and I'm skeptical when someone reaches out, but sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt.

SPEAKER_00 2:58

Go on, go no worries, yeah. And yeah, so I did reach out via one of them, and you responded literally almost immediately.

SPEAKER_02 3:06

It was over the weekend, and I was I have nothing better to do. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:10

So I was actually really surprised. I wasn't planning on actually having a conversation that quickly. Um, but you and I actually communicated a couple of times before I brought him Nick in because I just knew that we had been through so many different treatments and PTs and doctors and MRIs and throughout the past I don't know, it had been months at that point, maybe six to nine months.

SPEAKER_03 3:38

Yes.

Injury Timeline And Early Treatments

SPEAKER_02 3:39

What was the you know, what was take us through the initial injury and and what happened and where where did you go and kind of get you know you don't have to just kind of give a you know overview of an overview.

SPEAKER_00 3:50

Well, initially it started with his hit just the back, his back right here.

SPEAKER_01 3:55

It started with the shoulder. The shoulder was for very first. It was after I'd broke my hip, I came back, and then my shoulder started hurting. Yeah, and it just never went away.

SPEAKER_00 4:05

But it didn't hurt so bad that he couldn't play. I mean, he played all summer, and then finally we were gonna have a break. So he's like, Yeah, it still hurts. We did some, you know, a Rosti, we did the munch method, we did different kinds of things.

SPEAKER_02 4:18

I actually learned from you guys on what those were to either.

SPEAKER_00 4:21

Yeah, we had done all of those just to kind of loosen up those muscles because we just thought it was, you know, it we go to a Rosty, like that's our first line of attack.

SPEAKER_02 4:30

Just for people at home, just explain what that is so people don't know what that is.

SPEAKER_00 4:33

So a Rosty is basically like a super deep tissue massage, but it's it's specific to the injury. So I do it for my knees and they they it they dig and it basically breaks up the fascia so that your body then heals it. Heals itself. But they also give you exercises to do while you're doing it, and it usually takes two or three treatments, and then magically everything is and you've had a lot of success, right?

SPEAKER_02 5:01

For your injury.

SPEAKER_00 5:02

We've had a lot of success, like everything. Like I go, we go, that's our first line of defense, literally. Like we go there, and after two or three visits, usually after the first visit, you notice a difference, and then after three visits, you're just like, you're better.

SPEAKER_02 5:15

That's awesome. I'm gonna look more into that. I've never heard of that, I've never heard that word before, so maybe there's isn't providers in my area, but I'm gonna look that up.

SPEAKER_00 5:23

And just like PT, not every Aroosity person is the same. So we've had our same Arosity person for years, and sh and she is she's got baseball kids, and so we, you know, she just we know her.

SPEAKER_02 5:35

And Nick, you've had this treatment on your on your on your body before. Okay. No, it works great.

SPEAKER_01 5:41

But I mean for the shoulder and the back, it just it just stayed. That's great.

SPEAKER_00 5:46

So bottom line is after you know, we tried all those things, and we he went through the summer, you know, he got through a lot through the summer.

SPEAKER_01 5:54

Yeah, I mean, I was catching a lot, and it but it's like like I'm not gonna like external like at the very end, external, like when I was throwing, like it just I it I basically couldn't really feel my shoulder. It just kind of like I'd scale balls.

SPEAKER_02 6:14

It wasn't, right? It just kind of came on kind of out of the room.

Conflicting MRIs And Surgical Push

SPEAKER_01 6:17

I don't yeah, I don't remember anything.

SPEAKER_00 6:19

Yeah. Yeah, and he would he would just literally have no control of where the ball went. And then so then we finally decided, since we had a break, that we would just go to the orthopedic, and and he sent our orthopedic sent us to shoulder specialist, and he he did an MRI, and that's when the whole storm happened because basically the radiologist initially said he's got a torn labrum, and so then we spoke to the orthopedic and he was looking through the MRI, and he's like, This or this radiologist overcalls everything, you do not have a torn labrum, I do not see anything. He was like very adamant with us. I do not see anything in this MRI that I can do surgery on.

SPEAKER_03 7:04

So he sent us to PT. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 7:06

Yeah, so he sent us to PT and we did PT for a little while, and he was getting better.

SPEAKER_02 7:14

And he was the throwing, so he was feeling like shoulder pain, just like sleeping, washing your hair.

SPEAKER_01 7:24

Yeah, like I mean, doing after if I yeah, if I had a tournament, like it would just hurt the entire all day for like the next two or three days. And then it and that was like my back too, like it just it would just hurt.

SPEAKER_00 7:37

Yeah. And then so we did PT for you know six to eight weeks, and he he he released him to play football just to try it out to see how he felt, and his first football game back, he hurt he had a he sprained his AC joint.

SPEAKER_01 7:53

And I mean still like after all the PT when I threw before like I sprained my AC joint, like I threw like twice, I still felt it a little bit.

SPEAKER_03 8:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:04

And like I still felt something back there, and I I was just like kind of annoyed, but I didn't really say anything, and I just got hurt anyway. So it's like uh Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:12

And when did the when did the flanks like when did that kind of start?

SPEAKER_00 8:16

That came out.

SPEAKER_01 8:17

That was the baseball season after the football season.

SPEAKER_00 8:21

Yeah, so he continued with PT and then it just he started throwing and it kind of just didn't get better. And we were it was about to start. So he didn't play basketball because he wanted to work on getting everything fixed. I don't think I was gonna play anyway, but and then he we were about to start baseball season, so we went decided to go back to the orthopedic. We went to a different we went to a different orthopedic. No, oh, oh yeah. No, we went to no, we went, we went back to the same orthopedic, and then he comes, he walks in literally, he walks into the office and he said, So looks like you have a torn labrum. And he is the orthopedic who was adamant in his records. He was adamant, he even wrote in his records that I told the parents that there was nothing I could do surgically, there's nothing, whatever. And he came in, he goes, Looks like you have a torn labrum. He then said, I don't really work on athletes' shoulders, so I'm gonna send you to this guy in our office who specializes in in that.

SPEAKER_02 9:27

And he walked us-did you say, Hey, you you told us Yeah, yeah, yeah. And what was his response?

SPEAKER_01 9:34

He was just like, Sorry, I I work, I don't work on athlete.

SPEAKER_00 9:36

Yeah, sorry, I don't work on athletes. That basically I would rather you go to my colleague who specializes in overhead athletes.

SPEAKER_01 9:44

Yeah, like baseball guy.

Stem Cells, PT, And Stalled Progress

SPEAKER_00 9:45

Right. And so we walked down the hall. In the same office. Yeah, we literally walked down the hall, went in, he he went like this. He goes, What position do you play? He said, catcher. He goes, Oh, yeah, I know exactly what this is. You tore you tore your labrum, and you need surgery.

SPEAKER_01 10:01

And they showed us the MRI.

SPEAKER_00 10:02

I mean, and he's like, it could be right here, but we won't know until we go in.

SPEAKER_02 10:05

And any kind of movement test, any kind of strength, nothing, he didn't.

SPEAKER_00 10:11

He did a little bit, like more like you know, push on this, and but that was it.

SPEAKER_02 10:17

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 10:17

So, like and so we scheduled surgery.

SPEAKER_02 10:20

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 10:21

We scheduled surgery, and we I mean, we were panicking, we were talking to everybody, and his his summer ball coach, who also played in the MLB, he he basically said he's got time, do not do surgery. And he gave us a whole bunch of names of like PT people and you know, all this stuff, and they never panned out. Matt they never panned out, you know, because you know, when you do referrals like that, it's like it's one thing if it's you know the person, but they really didn't want to work with us, I don't think. So we panicked again and we reached out to some other people we knew in the medical field and they they recommended stem cells.

unknown 11:07

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 11:08

So we actually that's when we actually we did the stem cells, and then we started PT with a different facility, which uh supposedly specializes in athletes.

SPEAKER_03 11:19

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 11:20

And this is the PT that the doctor who was going to do surgery would have sent us to. And so he we started working with him. And uh after several weeks, I it didn't seem like we it was helping. So I, you know, he left and I stayed and talked to the PT guy, and I was like, hey, you know, do you think this is working? And he legitimately looked at me and he goes, surgery is your next option. So I don't think he was even working to find a non-surgical solution. So we said, fine, no, we're gonna go to a different orthopedic who was working with one of his teammates who actually legit had a torn labrum from dislocated shelter. Right, and that's and so we went to him and he also looked at the MRI and he same one that the other guy said of labrum in.

SPEAKER_01 12:13

Same MRI.

SPEAKER_00 12:14

It wasn't yeah, so this was the same MRI, and he said, I also know this radiologist, and he overcalls things. You do not have a torn labrum. And we were like, Can we just get another MRI?

SPEAKER_02 12:27

So now three three doctors, almost three, kind of did well, one changed his opinion, but okay.

Enter Velocity RX And The Game Test

SPEAKER_00 12:33

Wow, this is well we actually went to one in between that Dr. Klein. But yeah, we uh yeah, we put a multiple. So one out of four said that orthopedics said we had a torn labrum. Three orthopedics said no. So we went and got a new MRI and he said, I'm gonna have the specific radiologist read it. And he came back and he was like, nothing. There's no torn, nothing is torn in there. Okay, nothing with this, you know, torn the AC joint, which you know, then that made me feel like he really looked at it. And so we started PT again with uh with that doctor's PT. And that didn't, and because at that point he started baseball, he was just designed DH, so he was just hitting. Yeah, and then that's when his lower back started hurting. And so she was ping-ponging around between the shoulder and the back, and it was just like it nothing was working. So that's when I actually reached out to you and we started talking.

SPEAKER_02 13:40

Right. So then I know you I'm just just for the record, though, you've never had labral repair surgery, right? No.

SPEAKER_00 13:50

No, he just he just had the stem cell injection, which who knows? I doubt that's I'm very I'm I'm stem I'm pro stem cell.

SPEAKER_02 13:59

So you and I start working together, and the first step we do is we take this game test. And there are a couple tests in there that were probably you're leaving? Okay, thank you very much. So you take the game test, and they're you know, definitely the shoulder coordination test and I for you. And and so talk to me about that and how that kind of gave you what I like to tell people that uh it the test gives the why, right? You know, you're feeling this, that, and the other thing. Well, here's here's the reason why. So explain that to the audience.

SPEAKER_01 14:34

Yeah, well, it was good to see like kind of what it looks like. I can't really see what my back looks like from the video, so it's and it's if someone's telling me like, oh, you need to strengthen your back, do all these things, it's like like they're not really giving me a reason why. It's just like like and I've already done that stuff, like I've like loosened my chest, strengthen my back. Like I've done that, it doesn't work. But like it's not just strengthening your back, like you're showing me like the actual movement like coming up like that, like just how they're not working correctly, you know, like it and like it's off on this side, or it was it was cool to see the video, and then just also after I'd done everything, it was really cool to see how it looks so good after.

Seeing The Why: Video And Movement

SPEAKER_02 15:17

The after, I mean your before after is amazing. So the other test I think that was important for you, you know, was the squat test because where I think you had problems was that lat, which functions both as a shoulder blade function and a pelvic function, right? Sometimes when there's an injury to both, the lat just kind of says, I don't know where to be, and just kind of gives up. So you start doing these exercises, which you know, lifting your butt one millimeter off a chair, and lying in your back and squeezing scapular depression with five-second holds for 50, 75, 100. You're probably like, What am I doing? Right? So take us count after a while, you just keep doing it. I didn't have you lift all these weights, we didn't do these bands, we were so talk to me about that.

SPEAKER_01 16:13

I mean, it was good. I mean, it's it was just it was different, which like it it was just hard for me to try to listen to someone who was telling me to do the same thing that I had already tried. And like it was it was a lot more like like I actually wanted to do it because it was different. And after a while, it's like hard to kind of want to do stuff to try and help it, but since it was different and it was like honestly really simple, it was like okay, you know, that it it all makes sense too. Like it just it makes sense, and that helped me out. Like my brain, it's like okay, you know, like that makes sense.

SPEAKER_03 16:52

Right.

SPEAKER_01 16:52

And I could see it too that they weren't working, like I'd understood why.

SPEAKER_02 16:58

So in your estimation, and I won't hold you to exact numbers, when did you really start to believe that you were getting results? Like they're like, oh yeah, I'm starting to feel better.

Simple Drills Over Heavy Loading

SPEAKER_01 17:09

What's you know what probably after the first when I took that second video, whenever I I don't know when that was. Wow, okay. But after I saw from behind, like how much different and look it looked.

SPEAKER_02 17:23

Right.

SPEAKER_01 17:24

And like I could feel, because I could feel like like I know how to like tighten this right here. Like I didn't know how to like I actually physically could not do that. It was like the weirdest thing ever to be able to like move them like that.

SPEAKER_02 17:40

And at that time, what was so you were dealing with shoulder pain, this kind of weird flank pain. When did uh that kind of start to go away or start to see improvement?

SPEAKER_01 17:51

Um the back I didn't I just took a break from swing. But even when I took a break from swinging, it was like it still just it hurt. It was so odd, like it just hurt all day for I I don't even remember, like just weeks after like I stopped hitting, which didn't make sense to me.

SPEAKER_02 18:09

And that's all gone now, right?

SPEAKER_01 18:11

Yeah, and that feel good now. And the shoulder too, like the shoulder had it had it it usually feels better when I'm not throwing, but like I can always still like feel it, you know. Right. But right now, like I don't feel anything, and it's like throwing feels great.

SPEAKER_02 18:29

That's awesome. Like I started to work on drills and then mechanics and and talk to me about let's let's start with the drills. Talk talk to me about how effective you think they were in helping you improve your mechanics.

SPEAKER_01 18:43

The like the front foot strike, yeah, front foot strike, the finish drill, all those, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:47

How I no, they're they're great.

SPEAKER_01 18:50

Oh yeah, I love the I always do the front foot strike now and the three tap because I like just getting down first and then and then I'm like controlling my leg and then we're moving forward.

SPEAKER_03 19:03

Right.

SPEAKER_01 19:03

Like I like just like the rhythm, like I like having the rhythm part of it, but then the finish drill is also good because I usually it's it something that I struggle with is kind of keeping my the downhill, right? Like staying downhill instead of just being lazy and kind of just throwing it.

Pain Resolves And Mechanics Improve

SPEAKER_02 19:18

Now my philosophy is that as an athlete you need to be in control of your body the whole time. Whereas, you know, some of these VLO farms are telling you to, you know, fall or or run ahead or jump. Yeah, tall and fall or yeah, and you just don't there's seconds or half second or quarter second when you don't have control of your body. So when you're in your pitching mechanics, do you feel like you've got absolute control? Like you're literally, as I as I tell people, you're choosing or deciding to move. You're not moving as a result of falling. What would you say to that statement?

SPEAKER_01 19:57

A hundred percent. Like I always feel like I'm in control. Like when I come up, like usually like when you're little, you know, it's like, okay, I'm I'm pitching and like it's hard to keep my balance, but I just like I literally now like that's just never an issue. Like I'm I just come up and I can drop down and then I'm moving forward. I always feel very controlled, and then the throw always feels like smooth coming out of the hand. And if it feels a little off, I I can like I usually I have video so I can understand what I did wrong and then I can fix it, and then I feel under control again.

SPEAKER_02 20:33

Awesome. So currently, present time, no pain, right? You're throwing, you're doing all your stuff. Yeah. No pain. Yeah. So talk to me about you know, how do you feel catching? How do you feel your throws the second are? How do you feel? What do you think about those?

SPEAKER_01 20:50

I haven't caught yet, though. That's the only thing. Like I've just been doing online. Yeah, that's that's what I would do next. Now, what about pitching? How do you feel your pitching feels great?

SPEAKER_02 21:00

What do you think?

SPEAKER_01 21:00

That's all my velocity, I'm I haven't tested it yet, but I it feels like it, like I'm not even really sometimes like I I just I'm not even really moving fast, but I'm controlling it, and it just feels like it just comes out like it looks pretty fast. Yeah, it looks pretty fast from the videos too.

SPEAKER_02 21:21

So we're entering, you know, a couple days left in 2025. When was the last time you f didn't have pain? You don't even you can't even remember.

SPEAKER_01 21:38

Maybe before my hip, so like two years again. Two? Two years?

SPEAKER_02 21:45

So you went suffering for two years with all of this?

SPEAKER_01 21:50

Actually, yeah. Well, maybe a little more than two years, because before the hip I had like I I don't know, two bullying discs, what I don't I don't even know. My back just hurt during basketball.

SPEAKER_02 22:00

And now you're you're good.

SPEAKER_01 22:02

Yeah, now I feel great.

SPEAKER_02 22:03

Well that's awesome, man. So what would you tell people if someone said to you, you know, should you work with me or try Velocity RX? What what would what would you say?

SPEAKER_01 22:14

I would tell them go for it. Like I already, it's funny with the guys on my baseball team. I already I'm like kind of telling them to do some of the things that you're telling. Like, I'm like, hey guys, like let's like you gotta do scapular depressives. Like my best friend, like he's been doing scapular depressives, and he he says like he can feel a difference. That's great. Thank you. Thank you. Oh, yeah. I gotta help them out, too.

Two Years Of Pain To No Pain

SPEAKER_02 22:36

I I can't thank you enough for coming on. Uh this helps helps the mission of me trying to save a million arms. There's a lot of bad information out there, a ton, a ton of trolls out there. Yeah. You know, and unfortunately, you got some bad information, and you know, and I didn't do anything out of the ordinary other than just restore the body's neurological sequence of movement, you know, and we had good results. We had great results. And your mechanics are flawless, and I'll keep showing them and promoting them of exactly how good they are, because your arm probably, if I had a guesstimate, would probably accelerate, begin acceleration at 54 feet. Like you've got that much extension before you fire your arm, which is fantastic compared to what it was. Yeah. Well, thank you very much.

SPEAKER_00 23:28

Can I just pop on and say one more thing? Sorry. Absolutely. I'm like, wait, we don't want to say one more thing. We actually will not work with anybody who does not talk about the kinetic chain.

SPEAKER_03 23:41

Good.

SPEAKER_00 23:42

So he's now got a strength and conditioning coach who talked about the the kinetic kinetic chain. So he knows like the the how you know how it all works, and he you know, so that and that was started with you. So we certainly appreciate that. And we're you know, we swear by you.

Kinetic Chain Mindset And Takeaways

SPEAKER_02 24:00

So well, thank you. And I pre- I I I you know, I don't do this to you know, for I just do it so that other people because there's a lot of bad information out there. It truly is. A hundred percent. I'm trying to do my best to give people you know, there's people now, you know, who've never taken a science course before talking about human movement and this and that. I'm like, oh my god, you know, yeah, like I'm not I'm not talking about it.

SPEAKER_00 24:24

And it all just makes sense what you you know, how you explain that. Yeah. And I will say this too, like it all like all the things that you do in the beginning seem, you know, like, oh, why am I doing this?

SPEAKER_04 24:40

Yeah, for you can say it.

SPEAKER_00 24:42

Yeah, you know, if they're just like, oh my gosh, we have to do like all these like 200. We call it twerking. We call it twerking.

SPEAKER_02 24:49

I tell people like these are the boring exercises, I know, but they will pay off.

SPEAKER_00 24:53

But I will say, follow the process and it works. Yeah, it really truly does. So thank you.

SPEAKER_02 25:00

Thank you, and I thank you very much for coming on and have a happy new year. And thank you so much for it. Me too. All right, bye. Bye bye.