Clinical effects of shadow throwing instruction on improving the "elbow dropped" position: an examination of reproducibility during net and partner throwing drills.

Only 46 of 51 initially considered players were analysed, and all had already improved during shadow throwing and returned without pain, so players who did not improve are not represented. The sample was limited to right-handed male youth baseball players in school grades 5 to 9, so results may not apply to other ages, genders, handedness, field positions, or competitive levels. The sample size was relatively small, which limits statistical power and external validity. Instruction period, frequency, and content were not fully standardized across players. The study was cross-sectional, so it cannot show long-term retention of form correction or recurrence risk. Physical capacity and muscle function were not measured, so they may have contributed to the elbow dropped position during partner throwing.

The author declares no conflict of interest. The study was performed at three orthopedic clinics where the author works part-time.

Do not read the 0.0% shadow throwing result as evidence that clinic instruction has solved the throwing problem. The same players showed the elbow dropped position in 58.7% during partner throwing, so form correction did not reliably transfer to realistic throwing.