DAYTON, Ohio — Wright State freshman Calvin Mitchell won’t even warm up until he feels loose.
“When you throw, everything is chained together,” Mitchell said, while pointing to his throwing arm. “If this is tight, you’re gonna end up having problems here. So opening up this just allows me to be loose.”
He learned a whole new stretching routine since he started playing college ball. He also added a band to his throwing arm.
“I feel like it keeps my arm nice and hot, which is important for staying loose and healthy,” Mitchell said. “If you have a cold arm, it’s usually when you get injured the most. And it just feels nice.”
These techniques are meant to prevent injuries since under the band is a scar from surgery back from when played in high school. He damaged his Ulner Collateral Ligament, or UCL, by stretching it out. He said this happened despite getting rest between outings.
“Summer of my junior year heading into my senior year I started to notice, like during the outings I would feel a little bit of pain and discomfort through my elbow,” Mitchell said. “And then even after I felt it and that’s when I knew there was a problem. Just feeling it and not throwing.”
He met with Dr. Paul Saluan at the Cleveland Clinic’s Sports Medicine facility. He said UCL damage can happen to pitchers because of their throwing motion.
“They typically will develop tension on the inside part of the elbow, on this part and compression on the outside part of the elbow. And finally, as they’re coming through, shear on the back part of the elbow,” Saluan said.
Saluan had to surgically repair the ligament. He said Mitchell could hurt it again, so rest is more important than ever.
“Kids used to play, but now they train,” Saluan said. “That’s a real issue. You do need to get your rest in between throwing cycles. There’s no replacement for rest time in order to try and heal.”
Mitchell said he’s glad he treated this early, and now he’s one of only a few freshmen pitchers on the team who have gotten in games this year. And best of all, throwing feels normal again. He only needed a few months of rehab to start throwing again.
Mitchell learned that a longer stretching routine can keep his arm healthy after the surgery, so he can keep his mind on the game. He won’t let the fear of an injury distract him.
“It will force me to cut my arm off or short arm the ball, which just leads to more bad things and even another injury,” Mitchell said.
