Using Biomechanical Devices in Elite Baseball Pitchers: A Preliminary Feasibility Study

Baseball clinicians, coaches, and players have sought to leverage biomechanical devices to inform training and prevent injury. However, discerning feasibility is sparse for novel biomechanical devices to inform adoption of these technologies. The objective of this study was to investigate the uptake (i.e., proportion of initial use) and adherence (i.e., proportion of continued use) of wearable and portable biomechanical devices among collegiate baseball pitchers during a single summer training season.

Uptake, adherence and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were calculated for a commercially available biomechanical pitching sleeve during practice, and use of a force plate during a countermovement jump task for a minimum of one time per week per the established protocol. Potential non-response bias analyses were assessed descriptively by comparing medical history, clinical measures, and pitching patterns among athletes that continued and discontinued using the biomechanical devices.

Twenty-two pitchers participated. The uptake for initiating force plate use was 0.32 (95%CI: 0.14, 0.55); uptake for the pitching sleeve was 0.55 (0.32, 0.76). Adherence for force plate use was 0.46 (0.31, 0.70), compared to 0.13 (0.09, 0.17) for the pitch sleeve. Potential non-response bias analysis revealed pitchers with no previous upper extremity injury in the prior season (n=14) were more likely to use the pitching sleeve beyond the first session (43%) than those who had reported a previous season UE injury at study baseline (13%).

Variable uptake and adherence was observed across devices and players. Addressing barriers/facilitators to increase uptake and adherence is necessary to inform future studies on the effect of these devices on preventing injury using training load, kinetic, and kinematic data monitoring.