Relationship Between Lumbar Locked Rotation, Trunk Rotation During Pitching, and Pitch Velocity in High School Baseball Players

Background: Trunk rotation during pitching correlates with pitching velocity and load on the joints of the upper limb. Trunk rotation is often focusing on during teaching the pitching motion. Athletes who exhibit early trunk rotation during pitching often have low thoracic spine rotational range of motion. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the range of thoracic spine rotation measured using the lumbar locked rotation test (LLR-t), hip-shoulder separation (H/S) and thoracic rotation angle at stride foot contact (SFC), and ball velocity.

Study design: Descriptive laboratory study.

Methods: Fifteen healthy male high school students belonging to a baseball club were recruited for participation. The throwing side and non-throwing side LLR-t was performed using an inclinometer. Hip-shoulder separation and thoracic rotation angle during SFC were measured using a pitching motion analysis application: Pitch AI. In addition, a tracking device specifically designed for pitching：Pitching2.0 was employed to measure ball velocity. Correlations between LLR angle, H/S, trunk rotation angles at SFC, and ball velocity were examined using Pearson's correlation coefficient.

Result: There was a positive correlation（r=0.52，p=0.047） between the LLRt angle and H/S. Additionally, there was a negative correlation（r=-0.62, p =0.01） between the LLRt angle on the throwing side and thoracic rotation angle. There was a positive correlation(r=0.54, p=0.04) between ball velocity and H/S and a negative correlation(r=-0.56, p=0.03) between ball velocity and thoracic rotation angle during SFC. .

Conclusion: The LLR-t measures thoracic rotation angle with the pelvis-lumbar spine fixed. The results indicated that throwing side LLR was related to the thoracic angle during SFC and hip-shoulder separation.

Level of evidence: 3.