February 4th, 2010 | 
Author: This is a topic on which I need you, my readers, to give me some feedback. Everyone has their own methods and little tricks to keep their arm fresh. Some guys hurt more than others, but any high level baseball player finds a way to deal with pains, aches and soreness to make it to the next game.
When my arm feels like tired garbage, I first try to flush it with blood. I do this either by:
- Running
- Performing lightweight, high rep exercises for that body part
- Performing some other sort of conditioning like jumprope or light weight training circuits
If I have those weird little pains, extra soreness or aches, I might hit that area real hard with some soft tissue work. This means I will roll on it with a foam roller, tennis ball or baseball, hit it with a massage tool, rolling pin, or my good ol’ knuckles. Whatever the implement, I dig to the trouble spot and try to rub out any knots, and promote new bloodflow to the area.
If my elbow or shoulder, for example, gets extra sore or develops a little pain, I will also tend to crush it with extra prehab. If my forearm hurts on the top part, I will crush my forearm extensors with wrist rolls, wrist extensions, hand openers, etc. Again, this is trying to get blood and a new stimulus to the troubled area.
....whatever works
I’m only a believer in ice immediately after throwing, or any traumatic exercise for that matter, and I never ice after an hour has passed from my throwing session – this would slow bloodflow and have the opposite effect I’m looking for. Ice immediately after an injury or strenuous exercise reduces inflammation, but otherwise it just reduces bloodflow. I occasionally will use a heating pack to increase bloodflow if I’m really achy, but never the same day as the session that caused the ache.
So, it’s your turn…what do you do to keep yourself on the field and feeling good? I want your secrets for your arm, but any body part will do!
I’ve wanted to add my 2 cents on this subject since it was posted, but I wanted to think of a good explanation for what makes me feel….ummmm…OK pretty much all the time. “Good” doesn’t really happen too often, but then again neither does bad. When I feel Too Good I don’t Do Good…hahaha…because I try and do too much and when I feel just OK I know everything is right where it needs to be. Feeling “ok” is good for me.
My “routine” changes depending on how I feel/how much I threw the night before. The outline of my “routine” stays the same, but it’s the duration or intensity of what I do that is adjusted. For example, I like to run longer after I throw in a game, unless I am up the next day. I also like to do 2 sets of cuff exercises after I pitch, but if I am up the next day I may only do one set. I always do some variation of arm exercises and running…I just let how I feel and the amount of pitches I threw that night dictate how much I do.
If I am starting then my “routine” stays the same and I usually feel pretty OK every 5th day.
That’s one thing I’m always interested in, what “normal” feels like to people. To a guy like Rudy Seanez, who still throws a short-armed 95 after like 6 shoulder surgeries, “normal” must be wacky. It would be cool to live in someone’s arm for a day, to see what it feels like. It’s funny you mention feeling OK is better for you than feeling good, because everyone wants to be a power pitcher when they feel powerful. I heard Roger Clemens would run before games just to tire himself out a little, just so he didn’t feel that way. Sounds like a myth, but who knows.
I neglected to add in my post that I take a ton of fish oil, and I won’t live without it. My arm aches a little more when I don’t take as much, or don’t take any at all. I take A LOT (3 tablespoons of liquid oil a day), which is about 40x more than those bottles of cheap fish oil capsules recommend. But I notice a difference, and even if I didn’t, fish oil is like the healthiest substance on the planet, and it is proven in research to lower inflammation pretty dramatically. Dietary arm care.
I’ve been trying to think about what I did after my rehab, my arm hurt for over a year and I did a little bit of everything, I iced every game and almost always after practice. One day I stopped icing, and haven’t iced since, I can’t remember the last time I have had lasting arm pain except the first time I long tossed with you (Dan) after knee surgery. My bicep hurt for a few days, and since hasn’t hurt. I don’t really “take care” of my arm by doing anything special anymore, but the main difference is I am not a pitcher, so my arm slot is always the same and most of my throws aren’t max effort. I imagine the only difference between my arm when I had pain, besides a SLAP labrum tear, is my diet and improved throwing mechanics. Even when I pitch I could go 100 pitches with no soreness, except for my lats, and I can throw BP with no issue.