David Backstrom wrote:Two days ago, (and for the 3rd time in my disc golf career) I pulled my peck muscle while throwing a drive...First of all, I don't think I've ever heard of this happening to anyone else, ever... Let alone 3 times... Now don't get me wrong, I am in no way the picture of physical perfection. I absolutely never work out, and never stretch, and the only form of exercise I ever get is the occasional round of disc. However, I feel like there are disc golfers out there who are still in worse shape than me and I've never heard of this injury happening to anyone else. I guess my question would be do you think this would have anything to do with my throwing form or anything? Or do I just need to stop being such a lazy piece of sh!t and start doing something to get in better shape?
Just read this now, Dave. What Josh said
...and, most people, especially without a balanced fitness routine have forward-shoulder posture, with tight pectoral muscles. I'd have to check out your throwing form again, but it sounds like you get tons of power from your upper body, throwing really hard. That power/form, in conjunction with some tight pecs sounds like a probably cause. You could: warm up with dynamic stretches and use them as needed between holes, correct the root cause with a disc golf-specific / posture-correcting workout that you use as consistently as you're willing to do (couple times a week would do wonders), re-tool your throwing form, or any combination of the three. I'd recommend the first two and consider tweaking one element of your throwing form, such as using more lower body/core or following through consistently. Not following through consistently definitely puts tons of extra stress on the body with rapid, rather than smooth deceleration, and spreading the deceleration across a broader spectrum of joints and muscles. There's no way risk arm injury and otherwise, throwing hard sidearms, if I didn't train my body properly several times a week. I think you throw equally hard, or harder, backhand, so I'd definitely recommend priming your body to huck it hard. You can use mostly your body weight and add in some weights to accomplish what you need most. A couple different forms of rows, to strengthen your back, will be the primary reason you'll need to use some weights. Give me a shout if you have time to come down to Southbridge; I'll show you exactly what you need to do to rehab and prevent this injury from happening again!