You see it all the time, insert-the-name-of-a-baseball-pitcher-here to undergo Tommy John surgery to repair the UCL or ulnar collateral ligament, damaged thanks to elbow overuse. The high-tech Motus mThrow sleeve, under development the last few years with the help of several major league teams, is designed to potentially help avoid those injuries.
“Inside, it has a little 3D sensor that measures everything about a pitcher’s motion. One of the biggest things we measure is the torque on their UCL in addition to their arm speed. It allows us to measure their workload over time, it alerts coaches as to when their players are at overuse,” says Ben Hansen of Motus Global.
While creators of the sleeve say the primary purpose is to keep the arm healthy all, the data collected can also be used to improve performance.
It also measures arm speed, arm slot, elbow height and shoulder rotation, which can help coaches teach better mechanics. However, here’s the potential conundrum according to Dr. David Altcheck, medical director for the NY Mets who also serves as a consultant for the mThrow: good mechanics, in baseball terms, means a pitcher can build up tremendous bodily force and release it at the perfect time through, primarily, the elbow. It’s great for throwing really fast and not necessarily so great for the elbow at the end of all that force pitch after pitch.
“You know, you start to answer those questions about pitching styles, pitching mechanics, lower arm angles, higher arm angles, and really start to get a sense of what really does decrease the load across the elbow,” says Dr. Altchek. “We don’t know the answer to that question but it’s better to have good mechanics just because you’re a more effective pitcher. But we’re not sure good mechanics are really an injury prevention method."
The mThrow sleeve is available now for $150. Developers insist that while it can help detect arm fatigue today, it is still being used to collect data on throwing to help determine how to better prevent injuries in the future.