Award Date

5-1-2023

Degree Type

Doctoral Project

Degree Name

Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT)

Department

Physical Therapy

First Committee Member

Szu-Ping Lee

Second Committee Member

Daniel Young

Third Committee Member

Merrill Landers

Number of Pages

56

Abstract

Purpose/Hypothesis: Hitting a baseball is widely considered as one of the most difficult motor tasks in sports. It requires quick decision-making and coordinated activation of key muscles to produce a precise and rapid swing. Higher bat velocity has been shown to be associated with offensive performance of baseball players, as greater bat velocities permit more time to be spent analyzing a pitch and can lead to greater outcomes when a ball is hit in play. Baseball players and coaches have traditionally sought on-deck routines to temporarily enhance bat velocity before an at-bat, primarily swinging a weight bat. However, this method has been shown to be ineffective at increasing bat velocity in previous studies. This case series primarily explored the effects of a post-activation potentiation inducing warmup (PAP) procedure on bat velocity and secondarily explored whether upper- or lower-body strength has implications on the effect seen. Case Descriptions: Six high-school male baseball position players completed a dynamic warm- up then were randomly assigned to an order of warmup interventions consisting of either standard bat swings (SBS) or PAP inducing maximum voluntary isometric contractions (MVC). After each intervention and following a ten-minute washout period in between interventions, the bat velocity of ten subsequent swings was recorded. Participants’ maximal 1-repetition back squat and bench press were tested for computation of relative strength. Outcomes: Bat velocity was highly variable between the players and across the ten swings for each intervention. Four players demonstrated higher bat velocity following the PAP intervention. There was no clear trend regarding whether stronger individuals, as evident through bench press and back squat performance, contributed to the change in bat velocity following the PAP intervention. Conclusion: Utilizing MVCs to induce a PAP effect may be an effective means of increasing bat velocity prior to an at-bat, although this is largely individualistic. It is unclear whether strength has a role in inducing the PAP effect from MVCs.

Keywords

Baseball; Bat Velocity; Baseball Bat; Swing; Swing Speed; Post Activation Potentiation; PAP; Weighted Bat; on Deck Circle; Donut; Maximal Voluntary Contraction; MVC; Bat Speed, Hitting; Rotational Velocity; Batter; Pitcher; Improving Swing; Swing Mechanics; Warm Up; Performance

Disciplines

Sports Sciences

File Format

pdf

File Size

1786 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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