As mentioned before, pitching requires several joints and muscles. Shoulder and elbow are two of the joints that are involved in the movement. Of the six phases of pitching, arm cocking, acceleration and deceleration are the three phases when elbow and shoulder joints experience high magnitudes of forces (Oyama 83). Windup is the phase that occurs when the pitcher places the non-throwing hand is in front of the target. In the beginning of the arm cocking phase, the non-throwing shoulder is abducted and it’s elbow extends. The deltoid muscle is active during this phase (Houglum ,“An analysis of the biomechanics of pitching in baseball”). The throwing shoulder is forced into a 17-21 horizontal abduction because of the rapid upper torso rotation
