We know that repeatedly throwing baseballs at a high velocity at any level of competition can take its toll on a pitcher’s throwing arm. Just ask Matt Harvey, Stephen Strasburg, Adam Wainwright, or any of the many pitchers who have recently been a part of the spike in Tommy John Surgeries in baseball. Due to more intense, year-round training and competing, an increasing number of young ball players are starting their pitching careers by overworking their arms. Many baseball experts are searching for the precise reason that major elbow injuries are drastically increasing in recent years; and some are even calling the rise an epidemic that threatens baseball as we know it.
If you are one of the people that is worried about the future of pitchers in baseball, then hope is on the horizon in the form of Motus Global. Motus, a biomechanics analysis company, has developed a new and advanced sleeve, packed with biometric technology that aims to help optimize a player’s performance as well as reduce the risk of injury.
The Motus sleeve was developed to gather data through a 3D motion sensor embedded on a small device that attaches on the player’s elbow through a pouch on the sleeve. The data collected is used to provide information on a pitcher’s arm speed, pitch counts, elbow torque on the ulnar collateral ligament (this is the ligament that pitchers get replaced when undergoing Tommy John Surgery), release point, and cumulative workloads. If a batter wears the sleeve, the information provides swing metrics to provide full body analytics by using the Motus’ comprehensive database.
As a player performs at a high level throughout a grueling season, there will definitely be signs of fatigue and, thus, a higher risk of injury. In analyzing this fatigue and increased propensity for injury, Motus uses its proprietary performance and injury forecasting models to try and help teams keep their players healthy.
Results gathered by Motus’ hi-tech pitching sleeve are delivered through a smartphone app, which can help recommend treatment and workout regimens for a player.
The sleeve has been used by professional players from several MLB teams at the 2014 Fall Instructional League held in September and October, where Motus generated thousands of data points in order to showcase the potential of the sleeve in providing critical information. 90 percent of the participating coaches and training staff at the event used the information on a daily basis.
The sleeve truly shows potential for the future of not just baseball, but all sports in general. With access to important information that can detect fatigue that can lead to injury, training staffs can potentially decrease the amount of injuries every season. Of course, there are other factors that come into play when dealing with injuries, but with a pitcher’s specific arm information at hand, it should definitely help.
Motus is making the sleeve available to MLB and NCAA teams in February of 2015 but in limited quantities, while the consumer version for competitive baseball players released shortly after that on the Motus website.