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By Dr. Carmen Jansante, PT, DPT, CSCS Undefeated Physical Therapy & Performance | Canonsburg, PA| Pittsburgh, PA Your Arm Care Program Needs Variety If you play baseball, chances are resistance bands are a regular part of your arm care routine. Bands are convenient, easy to use, and a great way to incorporate strengthening exercises into your throwing program. However, effective baseball arm care needs to include more than just resistance bands. One of the most important prin

By Dr. Carmen Jansante, PT, DPT, CSCSUndefeated Physical Therapy & Performance | Pittsburgh, PA Should baseball players run? It depends on what you mean by “run.” Baseball players absolutely need to be conditioned. They need to be able to repeatedly produce high levels of force, sprint, accelerate, change direction, throw, hit, recover, and do it again. But that does not necessarily mean baseball players need to spend their conditioning time running miles around a track. Base

By Dr. Carmen Jansante, PT, DPT, CSCS Undefeated Physical Therapy & Performance — Pittsburgh, PA For baseball players, especially pitchers, not every arm problem starts at the shoulder or elbow. Thoracic Outlet Syndrome (TOS) is one condition that can cause arm symptoms that may be difficult to identify at first. While TOS is not one of the most common injuries in baseball, it is an important condition to recognize in overhead athletes, and it has been documented in professi

By Undefeated Physical Therapy & Performance | Dr. Carmen Jansante, PT, DPT, CSCS Pittsburgh, PA Baseball pitching has become more data-driven than ever. With technology such as TrackMan, Rapsodo, and other pitch-tracking systems, pitchers and coaches can now measure velocity, spin rate, spin efficiency, movement, release characteristics, and many other variables that were previously difficult to quantify. One metric that continues to receive a lot of attention is fastball sp

By Dr. Carmen Jansante, PT, DPT, CSCS Undefeated Physical Therapy & Performance — Pittsburgh, PA For baseball players, especially pitchers, building strength is important—but how we build that strength matters. The throwing arm experiences a tremendous amount of stress throughout a baseball season. The shoulder, elbow, forearm, and surrounding muscles have to repeatedly produce and absorb high forces. Because of that, there are times when adding more weight isn’t necessarily

By Dr. Carmen Jansante, PT, DPT, CSCS Undefeated Physical Therapy & Performance | Pittsburgh, PA If you’re an athlete dealing with pain, recovering from an injury, or simply looking to improve your performance, you may be wondering: What actually happens during my first visit? At Undefeated Physical Therapy & Performance, our first visit is different from a traditional physical therapy evaluation. We don’t just look at where it hurts. We look at the athlete. For baseball pla

By Dr. Carmen Jansante, PT, DPT, CSCS Undefeated Physical Therapy & Performance | Pittsburgh, PA For baseball pitchers, few injuries are more feared than a UCL injury. The ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) is located on the inside—or medial side—of the elbow and plays an important role in resisting the tremendous forces created during throwing. When a pitcher throws a baseball at high velocity, the elbow is exposed to significant valgus stress, which attempts to “open” or gap

By Dr. Carmen Jansante, PT, DPT, CSCS Undefeated Physical Therapy & Performance | Pittsburgh Baseball Rehab When we talk about baseball injury prevention, most people immediately think about arm care, stretching, or pitch counts. Those things matter—but injury prevention starts long before you ever pick up a baseball. As a physical therapist who works with baseball players and throwing athletes throughout Pittsburgh, I believe injury prevention comes down to taking care of t

PRP for Baseball Players, Throwing Athletes & UCL Injuries in Pittsburgh By Dr. Carmen Jansante, PT, DPT, CSCS Undefeated Physical Therapy and Performance | Greater Pittsburgh, PA If you are a baseball player, parent, coach, or athlete in the Pittsburgh area dealing with a UCL injury, there is a good chance PRP has come up in the conversation. I hear it all the time: “He has a partial UCL tear. Should we get PRP?” PRP has become increasingly popular in sports medicine, partic

By Dr. Carmen Jansante, PT, DPT, CSCS Undefeated Physical Therapy and Performance | Pittsburgh, Pa If you’ve followed Undefeated Physical Therapy and Performance for any amount of time, you’ve probably heard me say this: Throwing is a full-body movement. It’s not just about the shoulder. It’s not just about the elbow. And it certainly isn’t just about the arm. A baseball throw is a coordinated sequence that starts with the ground, moves through the legs and hips, transfers th

Why Baseball Players Need More Than Wrist Curls for Arm Strength and Elbow Health By Dr. Carmen Jansante, PT, DPT, CSCS | Undefeated Physical Therapy & Performance | Pittsburgh, PA When most athletes think about forearm training, they probably think about one thing: wrist curls. Flexion. Extension. Up and down. You’ve probably seen it before—someone sitting on a bench with a dumbbell in their hand, forearm supported, repeatedly flexing and extending the wrist. There’s nothing

By Dr. Carmen Jansante, PT, DPT, CSCS Undefeated Physical Therapy & Performance | Pittsburgh, PA If you’re a baseball or softball player, chances are you’ve felt soreness after throwing at some point. The question is: Is it normal… or is it the start of an injury? At Undefeated Physical Therapy & Performance, one of the most common complaints we evaluate in throwers is elbow pain after throwing. Over the past month alone, we’ve seen a significant increase in athletes dealing

By Dr. Carmen Jansante, PT, DPT, CSCS Undefeated Physical Therapy and Performance Disclaimer: This article is intended for educational purposes only and is not intended to supplement or replace medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment from your physician or other qualified healthcare professional. Every few years, it seems like a new breakthrough emerges in the world of fitness, performance, and recovery. One year, it may be a specific diet. The next, a new supplement. Then,

By Dr. Carmen Jansante, PT, DPT, CSCS If I had to estimate, I’d say nearly 80% of the injuries we see in the clinic are related to overuse. While acute injuries like a twisted ankle, broken bone, or collision on the field certainly happen, overuse is often the underlying factor behind many of the injuries athletes experience. As a physical therapist working with athletes every day, especially baseball and softball players, I see the effects of repetitive movement firsthand. O

By Dr. Carmen Jansante, PT, DPT, CSCS Undefeated Physical Therapy and Performance When most people think about training their biceps, they picture bodybuilders doing endless curls in front of a mirror. While the biceps may be one of the most commonly trained muscles in the gym, many throwing athletes underestimate how important they are for arm health, performance, and injury prevention. At Undefeated Physical Therapy & Performance, we don’t train the biceps just to make you

By Dr. Carmen Jansante, PT, DPT, CSCS Undefeated Physical Therapy & Performance | Pittsburgh, PA One of the most common questions I get from athletes and active adults is: “Should I work out if I’m sore?” The short answer is: It depends. The key is knowing the difference between muscle soreness and pain. Understanding that difference can help you recover faster, avoid injuries, and continue making progress in the gym or on the field. Whether you’re a baseball player, weekend

By Dr. Carmen Jansante, PT, DPT, CSCS Undefeated Physical Therapy and Performance One of the most common things I hear from baseball players is: “I took a week or two off throwing, it felt better, but as soon as I got back into it, the pain came right back.” And honestly—that makes sense. Rest is important. It’s a very important advantage when it comes to helping an athlete recover from injury because we are temporarily removing the stress from the injured area. For throwers,

By Dr. Carmen Jansante, PT, DPT, CSCS Undefeated Physical Therapy and Performance When people think about surgery, they often think the procedure itself is what “fixes” the problem—and structurally, that’s true. But surgery only addresses the damaged tissue. It does not automatically resolve everything happening around it. At Undefeated Physical Therapy and Performance, we see this often with throwing athletes recovering from Ulnar Collateral Ligament Injury (UCL) repairs or

By Dr. Carmen Jansante, PT, DPT, CSCS Undefeated Physical Therapy & Performance If you’re a baseball parent, coach, or athlete, this is the time of year when we start seeing a spike in shoulder injuries. At Undefeated Physical Therapy & Performance, we’ve seen nearly 10 cases of Little League Shoulder in the past month alone. As recreational baseball wraps up and summer travel ball ramps up, throwing volume often increases dramatically. More games, more practices, more showca

By Dr. Carmen Jansante, PT, DPT, CSCS Undefeated Physical Therapy & Performance In today’s world, we’re constantly searching for ways to make life easier. We want faster results, quicker fixes, and the most efficient path from point A to point B. While innovation has certainly improved many aspects of our lives, this mindset has also influenced how we approach our health. When something hurts, many people immediately look for a pill. When energy is low, there’s a supplement.