[h4]New Partnership with Dr. Carl Nissen’s Center for Motion Analysis![/h4]
Earlier this week, I had an amazing opportunity to meet with Dr. Carl Nissen and his team at the Center for Motion Analysis in Farmington, CT.
If you’re not familiar with Dr. Nissen, he’s done some great research on injury prevention and performance enhancement for pitchers, including a widely cited 2007 study: “Adolescent baseball pitching technique: a detailed three-dimensional biomechanical analysis”
(Eric Cressey highlighted a diagram from this study one of his best posts not long ago).
We had a great two hour discussion, talking about some of the studies they’re working on, some of the areas I’d love to see explored more thoroughly, and we all came away feeling really good about how we can work together to bridge the gap between the art and science of pitching.
One of the things I’m most excited about is just the sheer capabilities of their Motion Analysis Lab.
The Video Analysis I’ve been doing on my own has been a huge help in breaking down my pitchers’ mechanics, but nothing can compare to the 500 frames per second footage they can produce. And taking it a step further, they have the 3-D technology, using those little round markers you may be familiar with, that makes it possible to analyze a pitcher’s delivery from any angle to see precise positions and measure joint stress at various stages of the throwing motion.
Sometimes, even with slow motion video, the eye can play tricks on you. You may think you’re seeing one thing, but the 3-D rendering may show you something completely different. A pitcher’s elbow may appear to be low and lagging, but after factoring in trunk tilt and rotation, the angle may actually be high and not lagging.
So it’s still early days in our relationship, but today I’m very excited to formally introduce their Full Biomechanical Analysis as a special add-on to my own Motion Analysis with BetterPitching.com.
And for anyone with pitchers age 9-12 who have been pitching for less than 18 months, they can participate in their latest study to get a full analysis at no charge. Just send me an email at Motion@BetterPitching.com.
As always, I appreciate your support. If you have any suggestions or ideas for possible new pitching studies, just drop a comment below!