Softball Recovery Techniques

We’ve spent the last 3 weeks chatting about how to effectively do soft tissue, not only how to do it but also how to fix the problem so we can eventually stop doing soft tissue.

BUT WHY?? What does soft tissue do?? Soft tissue encourages old blood out, so new blood can come in. New blood brings new nutrients, which allow for improved healing qualities.

Using soft tissue is an especially powerful recovery technique during long weekend tournaments when your body doesn’t have as much time to recover between games.

If soft tissue doesn’t quite get you there and you need a bit more juice to get back on the field, here’s a few additional techniques to boost your recovery:

1. Low-grade cardio exercises. Jump on an exercise bike and get your heart rate up to 110 or 120. You might feel like you aren’t doing anything, but what you’re doing is pumping those nutrients through the system.
2. Stay hydrated. Water gives blood its ability to flow, and those nutrients can cycle through the system. If you are dehydrated, it bogs down the system, and those nutrients can’t get around your body.
3. Good nutrients. Nutrients can also allow your body to heal, and there are even certain foods like fish and blueberries that have natural anti-inflammatory properties. You can take Advil or you could just eat some blueberries.

Here are a few keys to make your soft tissue more effective:

1. Soft tissue is most effective for “tight” muscles. Tight is when the contractile state of the nervous system increases and can be due to stress or training.
2. Here are some muscles that are good to keep addressing for us softball players. It’s not exhaustive, but it’s a good place to start:
• Upper trap: These are the neck muscles that we all know about.
• Infraspinatus: One of our rotator cuff muscles will no doubt experience soreness this season.
• QL: This muscle plays a large role in our rotation throughout our trunk.
• Low back paraspinals: This muscle is straightforward to overuse when we load through extension rather than really using our backside power through our glutes.
• T spine: This muscle plays a part in our rotation through our midline trunk.
• Calves: Especially in those cleats all weekend, this muscle can take a beating.
3. We chatted about different soft tissue methods from foam rolling to theragunning (if that’s a verb;), lacrosse balling, to even going to get professional help and getting something like dry needling, which can be an aggressive approach that’s really helpful for some. Do the method that produces the best results for you.

Don’t get stuck doing soft tissue forever. Fix the problem with this 3-step approach:

1. Strength where you are weak.
2. Stretch where you are short.
3. Do soft tissue where you are tight.

Remember, under every ache and pain, there is a strength problem. It might be where your pain is, but most likely it is hiding out someplace else. Find that strength problem, strengthen it, and forever make your ache go away.