Strength in Numbers #209
When fans think of injuries in baseball or overhead sports, the first thought usually lands on the shoulder or elbow. The arm is the apex focus for baseball injuries, but the lower back is more of a pesky problem that keeps resurfacing.
MLB finds disc abnormalities, arthritis, and facet joint issues in top prospects under the age of 21 at the MLB combine. If those asymptomatic issues become symptomatic, the athlete is in a world of hurt, and that’s not just literal. Back injuries require concentrated focus on maintaining stabilization and motor control.
With the inclusion of waterbag training and heavy compound lifting such as squatting and deadlifting, athletes are putting more wear and tear on their spines and require even more proximal stiffness, the simultaneous contraction of all the core muscles, paraspinal muscles, and the diaphragm to protect the spinal column.
But behind the scenes, low back pain is one of the most common, underreported, and performance-limiting issues athletes face, especially throwers and hitters. In this article, we will explore the subject and offer training solutions to reduce the risk of faulty discs.
Prevalence & Mechanism of Injury
Multiple studies have shown that lumbar spine stress injuries are common in baseball players, particularly pitchers and position players with high swing volumes. Research by Camp et al (2017) found that MLB players are prone to lower back injuries. This connects the dots with a previous study examining the MRI records of the nation’s top amateur talent before the draft. Roughly 60% of all players had pars lumbar fractures, and 69% had disc protrusions.
Ultimately, these asymptomatic findings can become symptomatic and plague a player for the remainder of their career. These issues tend to surface over time due to repeated torsional forces and loading cycles on the spine, but can be furthered with an overloaded spinal column and jerking movements.
This video link shows waterbag training, which can be a tool to accelerate and rapidly decelerate the spinal column. Performance benefits have not been well studied, but anecdotally, this type of training is believed to advance velocity through rapid energy exchanges. That said, careful consideration is required as lower back health could be jeopardized. I am personally working with a few athletes who have suffered from injuries with rapid jerking of the spinal column. Foundational programming and placing this type of training while the core musculature is fresh is important.
Biomechanically, the throwing and swinging motions generate high rotational torque, with the lower back serving as the bridge between the powerful lower body and the delivering upper half. If this bridge fails to stabilize or decelerate correctly, the system collapses and can lead to additional injury.
In this training example from our new Specialist Course, the priority is on stabilization of the spine. It should be a major point of emphasis before the acceleration of rotation of the spine. To lessen stiffness for athletes, removing a hand reduces the amount of pressure in the spinal column, with reduced upper body muscle activation.
Ground Reaction Torque: The Core of It All
When an athlete plants during a swing or drive-leg extension during pitching, a ground reaction force (GRF) is created—this is the force the ground “pushes back” against the athlete’s body. However, it’s not just the magnitude of the force that matters—the direction and timing dictate what happens up the kinetic chain.
This is where ground reaction torques (GRTs) come into play. These are the rotational forces caused by how and where the foot applies force to the ground. If ground contact is misaligned or late, the resulting torque becomes inefficient, forcing the spine to absorb more load to maintain stability and power, leading to compensations and eventually, pain or injury.
When deceleration mechanics fail (i.e., the athlete can’t absorb or transfer force from the ground through the pelvis and trunk efficiently), the lumbar spine becomes the weak link, absorbing shearing forces it’s not built to handle.
Although this video looks at groin injuries in pitchers, you can see 3D ground reaction forces in motion and better understand the torsion that the feet apply between the applications of one foot pushing forward and another pushing back.
Think of spinning a pencil between your index finger and thumb, the finger pulls back, and the thumb pushes forward to rotate the pencil. The drive foot is the thumb, and the finger pushing back is the stride foot, which causes the pelvis and spine to rotate.
Stabilization Starts in the Core
To manage GRTs and reduce spinal stress, trunk stabilization must be prioritized. And while many athletes do planks or crunches, these aren’t enough.
The Paloff Press, a popular anti-rotation core drill, activates deep stabilizers like the transverse abdominis and obliques. It mimics the isometric core engagement needed during pitching or swinging, where the trunk resists unwanted rotation and maintains postural integrity through high-speed movement.
Studies have shown that improved core stability reduces lumbar spine load and enhances energy transfer through the kinetic chain. For throwers, this means better velocity. For hitters, more bat speed. For both, it means less pain and more availability.
In this video from our Certified ArmCare Specialist Course, we demonstrate a Paloff variation that blocks the hips, focusing on thoracic rotation and adding mobility from the thoracic spine while strengthening stabilization through a greater range of motion. Stability first, speed second.
The Price of a Painful Back
Lingering back pain doesn’t just hurt—it kills performance. When the spine is compromised:
- Trunk rotation speed decreases
- Hip-shoulder separation is reduced
- Force transfer through the kinetic chain is less efficient
- Athletes begin to alter their movement patterns, creating secondary injury risks (shoulder, elbow)
What I have seen anecdotally during my 10-year career in MLB, pitchers who reported lower back issues showed a decrease in average fastball velocity and increased time on the Injured List compared to their healthy counterparts. Hitters with chronic low back pain had notable declines in exit velocity and hard-hit percentage.
Rebuild From the Ground Up
If you’re working with an athlete suffering from low back pain—or looking to prevent it—the answer starts from the ground up:
- Train and assess landing mechanics for both pitchers and hitters
- Develop anti-rotation strength with drills like the Paloff Press and bird dogs
- Implement eccentric trunk training (e.g., controlled rollouts)
- Evaluate hip and thoracic mobility, which influence lumbar workload
- Routinely assess and balance the throwing arm’s capacity to reduce spinal compensation
The barbell rollout is a technical training exercise to improve strength while lengthening the abdominal and core region. In this video from our Certified Pitching Biomechanist Course, we go through the key technical details on how to perform the movement safely and effectively.
Education = Prevention
Low back pain isn’t just a medical issue—it’s a biomechanical red flag and a performance suppressor. To keep athletes healthy, we must bridge ground force production, torque management, and core integrity into every training and rehab plan.
Our courses teach you how to create customized player development programs, adjusting training and throwing programs. If you have not taken our certifications, you are in for an incredible data-led journey that emphasizes understanding the total athlete, not just the arm. We can learn a great deal about the body from the function of the throwing arm, and when we test and identify fatigue, it could be more than just the arm contributing to the loss of function.
Education is the way forward, and understanding how to connect technology and training methodology is the wave of the future.
Don’t let back pain crash your athlete’s chances of a long-lasting career – and there is a big push in our company to improve rotation and back health.
I cannot wait for our new creation to be ready for rotational athletes everywhere. Stay tuned as it is coming soon.
Strength Matters Most,
Ryan
Ryan@armcare.com
