With baseball season getting into full swing, coaches, trainers and clinicians are all at-bat to prevent and treat injuries as they arise. The rotator cuff is (quite literally) a sore subject for many of baseball players, which involves a lot of training and strengthening to keep players safe and on the field. However, there’s one major flaw with the majority of the rotator cuff injury prevention programs out there: they don’t involve the lower body.
Andre Labbe, a physical therapist based in New Orleans, has spent years working with baseball players and other overhead athletes. Throughout his experience and research, he has noticed that a myopic approach to shoulder training extremely limits the benefits of preventative and rehabilitative protocols.
“Our programs tend to spend a lot of time focusing on rotator cuff strength,” said Labbe. “But really, I could get the rotator cuff as strong as possible, but if the torso, hips and legs don’t work as a unit, I will tear that cuff up again”
Shoulder Injury Prevention Program for Baseball Players
This knowledge, coupled with his extensive work with Dr. Vladimir Janda learning about tonic and phasic chains and movement patterns, has fueled the creation of the unique Overhead Athlete Program he utilizes in his practice daily. We recently met up with Andre to pick his brain about his training philosophies and innovative exercises and are excited to be premiering this series! In the flagship content of the Baseball Injury Prevention series, you’ll learn:
- The importance of training the lower body with the upper body
- Why his program works and creates better athletes
- How to increase velocity and performance safety
- How to create a healthy arm with less chance of injury or recurrence
Get started with the video below, and follow the links to view each episode in the series!
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