The Athletic Potential Podcast
The Athletic Potential Podcast is your place to come and get answers to your athletic development questions. We cover a range of topics all related to getting you to achieve your athletic goals so that you can experience and enjoy the athletic career that you desire. Hosted by Mike Mathews, a physical therapist and strength coach, answers will be a blend of what has worked for those in the past as well as what the research world has to say. Topics will include sports performance training, rehabilitation, injury prevention, speed and agility training, and power development. Interviews with athletes will help to provide examples that will help you know what steps to take so that you can go and perform in your sport at the highest level. Come listen and lets achieve your maximum athletic potential!
The Athletic Potential Podcast
063: Most Common Baseball & Softball Injuries Beyond the Arm: Low Back Pain, Pars Defects, and Core Training
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In this Athletic Potential Podcast episode, a physical therapist answers a listener’s question about the most common baseball and softball injuries outside the shoulder and elbow, explaining that low back pain is a major issue (with hamstrings also common in baseball) and highlighting adolescent pars stress fractures caused by repetitive high-speed lumbar extension and rotation. The episode reviews basic lumbar motion limits to show why the low back is poorly suited for rotation, describes typical symptom progression, notes that imaging can help determine status, and outlines common management including activity restriction for roughly 2–5 months, with many returning to play (about 80%) though overall return may take 6–8 months. Prevention focuses on adequate seasonal downtime, a gradual ramp-up of volume and intensity, improved mechanics, and core control using planks, side planks, and bird dogs/dead bugs rather than crunches or sit-ups.
00:00 Welcome and Setup
01:17 Listener Question
01:53 Common Non Arm Injuries
02:38 Why Throwers Get Back Pain
03:33 Pars Defects Explained
07:49 Diagnosis Imaging and Timeline
11:18 Prevention Through Ramp Up
14:56 Skip Crunches Build Core
16:21 Plank Bird Dog Routine
21:17 Wrap Up and Next Steps
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