Some Light Reading: The Athlete's Shoulder and Low Back Disorders

The Athlete’s Shoulder is an outstanding text written by a vast array of experts in the shoulder rehabilitation field – Kevin Wilk, Mike Reinold, Glenn Fleisig, James Andrews, and many, many others. It’s also over 800 pages worth of research, summaries, protocols, images, diagrams, and evidenced-based rehabilitation programs – all of it on the shoulder alone!

I’ve leafed through a copy that a physical therapist friend owns, but he’s highly protective of it and keeps it at his side at all times in his office. So, I finally broke down and picked up a copy for myself. My first reaction was: “Good lord, this thing is enormous!” And at 800+ pages, you better believe it is.

However, the book is a must-own for any trainer who works with overhead athletes – tennis players, baseball pitchers, volleyball strikers, handball throwers, and so forth. There’s just a gold mine of information in the book that you can’t find anywhere else. Though the price tag is steep (about $120 on Amazon), it’s well-worth it – just ask any physical therapist or trainer who works with injured athletes, and they’ll confirm that belief.

I also picked up a copy of Low Back Disorders, written by back guru Stuart McGill. This book personally hits home for me, as I’ve been rehabilitating a herniated disc in my spine around L4-L5. I’ve been seeing a chiropractor, neuroscientist, and have been following the excellent advice in the $10 book Treat Your Own Back by Robin McKenzie. However, I wanted to pick up a book that had a little more substance to it, and McGill’s book comes highly recommended by trainers and physical therapists around the world.

I’ve only briefly skimmed a few pages of the book, but I can immediately understand how it will be useful in designing training protocols for both healthy and injured populations at Driveline Baseball.

Research is at a Premium at Driveline Baseball

We consider Research Studies and continuing education to be a vitally important part of our platform at Driveline Baseball. We think that keeping on top of current and past research studies on sports science and kinesiology can only help us design more effective and safer programs for our high school, collegiate, and professional athletes in all sports – particularly our Elite Baseball Training program.