David Verduzco

A baseball pitcher at Stanford, David Verduzco was suffering from chronic right groin pulls that did not respond to conventional treatment.

Somax videotaped and measured David’s pitching mechanics and measured the ranges of motion he needed for pitching. We then improved those ranges with Microfiber Reduction. These photos show the improvement in flexibility and pitching mechanics.

Before                                         After

This is David’s Windup before and after his Microfiber Reduction. His supporting knee angle has improved from 137 to 152 degrees due to his increased Hip Extension.

Before                                                                After

Before Microfiber Reduction, David’s Hip Extension was only 16 degrees. After, it was 37 degrees, an improvement of 130%. Most of the microfibers were around the lower quads (near his knee) on his right thigh. David was pulling his right groin muscles because the lower ends of his quad muscles were not able to stretch as they were bound up with microfibers. Once we released these microfibers, his groin pulls ceased.

Before                                                                After

We also released microfibers from the back of Dave’s hips to improve his Hip Flexion from 45 to 66 degrees, an improvement of 47%. This enabled Dave to increase his angle between his legs on his Windup from 140 to 160 degrees. 

Before                                  After

This extra flexibility increased Dave’s potential energy during his windup so that he could throw the ball harder with less effort. The extra flexibility also stabilized his position so that he could throw more relaxed. As a result, his control improved. His percentage of strikes-thrown increased from 50% to 64%.

Before                                          After

With his increased hip extension and flexion, Dave’s Stride Angle (the maximum opening between his front and trailing upper leg) increased from 104 to 112 degrees. Long-lasting pitchers like Nolan Ryan (pitched until age 46) and Tom Seaver (pitched until age 42) had large Stride Angles (Seaver’s was 165 degrees!). This flexibility in the hips allows the pitcher to slow his arm down over a longer arc with his back and hip muscles. The arm, which is traveling at 90 mph, has more time to slow down, and therefore does not strain the shoulder muscles so much. Pitchers typically drop out of baseball because the rotator cuff at the back of the arm has frayed from decelerating the arm. Dave was able to throw longer with less arm fatigue after his Microfiber Reduction. 

Before                                         After

These Before and After photos show the improvement in Dave’s Finish. Once we had released the microfibers in his hips, he was able to roll over his left supporting leg more easily at the end of his pitch. This gave his arm more room to slow down, and he was now able slow it down with the large muscles of his back and hips. The additional flexibility gave him more stability at the end of his pitch, which helped Dave with his control.

Before                                       After

Dave’s External Arm Rotation went from 20 degrees to 30 degrees, an improvement of 50%. Pitchers improve their throwing speed by 1 mph for every two degrees they increase their External Arm Rotation. 

Before                                            After

This is Dave at Mid Pitch. His right arm is maximally externally rotated. He has added 15 degrees to External Arm Rotation during his pitch. This amount will typically be larger than his static range because of the force generated by his hips during his pitching motion forces his arm back.

You can also see that Dave’s upper back was stiff and straight during his Mid Pitch in his Before photo. This has changed in his After photo because we released microfibers in Dave’s upper back.

Before                                                                          After

Dave was able to increase his Back Extension from 8" to 12" after we released the microfibers that had formed in his upper back. His upper back was injured from a fall off a trampoline when he was young. The microfibers had formed as a result of that injury, and years later were restricting his pitching motion until we released them.

Once we released the microfibers that were binding together the muscles of Dave’s hips, spine and shoulders, he increased his top pitch speed from the mid-80’s to the low 90’s, eliminated his groin pulls, and improved his control.