Importance of Foot Position in the Pitching Delivery

When it comes to pitching mechanics, you often hear that power comes from the ground up. Indeed, pitching velocity comes from the energy a pitcher is able to create with his or her legs.  Foot position plays a key role in a pitcher’s ability to use the ground to generate force which not only increases velocity, but also reduces stress on the pitcher’s arm. Read on to learn about the basics of foot position, how foot position relates specifically to pitching delivery, and an exercise that helps work on deficiencies in foot mechanics.

Overview of Basic Foot Types

There are three basic foot types: flat foot (pes planus), neutral foot, and high arched foot (pes cavus).

A flat foot will have difficulty creating stability for the leg as the bones and soft tissues of the foot are left in a more relaxed position.  A high arched foot will have difficulty acting as a shock absorber for the leg as it is in a more rigid position. A neutral foot that is able to move slightly toward planus to aid in absorbing shock and cavus to create stability is ideal.

How Foot Mechanics Impact the Pitching Delivery

When the pitcher comes into his or her leg kick, the leg that he or she is standing on (right leg for a right handed pitcher, left for a lefty) needs to be stable.  If the foot is too flat, the body will have a hard time being able to maintain stability on that stance leg. This instability will affect performance by making it difficult for the pitcher to generate power from the stance leg.  A flat stance foot has also shown to increase the likelihood of serious shoulder and elbow injury in college and professional pitchers by 3.7 times (Feigenbaum et al, JOSPT November, 2013). The landing leg (left leg for righties and right for lefties) needs to properly absorb the shock of coming down the mound.  If the body cannot absorb force properly it will typically “put on the brakes” and limit the amount of force or power the pitcher puts into the pitch. A foot with too high an arch on the landing leg has shown to increase the likelihood of injury by 3.4 times in the same study noted above.

An Effective Exercise to Improve Foot Mechanics

The “short foot” is a simple exercise used to strengthen the foot and increase proper control of the arch.  In this exercise, stand with no shoes on. Lift your arch while keeping your toes relaxed. Imagine that your lower leg, where it goes into your foot, is a screw and you are turning the screw out a quarter turn.  This will help lift the arch without rolling the ankles out. Hold this position for a few seconds then relax. This exercise can be progressed to performing it standing on one leg or on an unstable surface.

At Complete Game Physical Therapy, we use this exercise not only for our pitchers, but for our general population who may be suffering from anything from foot pain to knee pain to hip pain. To learn more, contact Greg at 978-710-7204 or gcrossman@completegamept.com.