Motion Analysis Focusing on Rotational Movements of Professional Female Baseball Pitchers: Comparison with Male University Baseball Pitchers

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare pitching motion of the professional female baseball pitchers with the male university baseball pitchers focused on the pelvic and thoracic movements. Subjects and methods: The participants were 15 healthy professional female baseball pitchers (11 right-handers and 4 left-handers; age, 21.7 +/- 3.2 years; height, 162.5 +/- 5.1 cm; weight, 59.0 +/- 6.6 kg) and 14 healthy male university baseball pitchers (12 right-handers and 2 left-handers; age, 19.9 +/- 0.8 years; height, 176.4 +/- 3.0 cm; body mass, 73.1 +/- 3.0 kg). Throwing motion was captured by three-dimensional motion analysis system. Kinematic data of the lead hip, pelvis, thorax, and dominant shoulder were collected and the joint angle at maximum external rotation phase and ball release phase were compared. Results: The female baseball pitchers rotated pelvis and thorax more than the male at the maximum external rotation phase and ball release phase (p < 0.05). At the same, the pelvis and thorax of the female baseball pitchers were tilted significantly closer to horizontal plane than the male (p < 0.05). The pelvis and thorax of the male baseball pitchers was tilted to non-dominant lateral side. Conclusions: The results of this study indicate that the pelvic and thoracic movements of the professional female baseball pitchers was different from male university pitchers.