Return to Throwing: Free 6-Week Clinician-Led Planning Workbook

Who this workbook is for

Do not begin or increase throwing based on this workbook. Obtain an individual plan and explicit clearance from the treating clinician. Pitch AI and a video analysis cannot provide medical clearance.

Healing status, the specific injury, strength, motion, symptoms, and the demands of the athlete’s position affect readiness. Being pain-free at rest or completing a calendar week does not, by itself, clear an athlete to throw. Textbook reconditioning advances by criteria—tissue healing, motion, strength, function, and symptoms—and each phase change is a clinician’s decision.

Your weekly framework

Use these steps only alongside the treating clinician’s written plan.

Clinical planning questions

Questions to bring to the appointment

When to stop and contact your clinician

If pain returns, stop throwing and contact the treating clinician before continuing. Sudden severe pain, marked swelling, weakness, numbness, or loss of function needs prompt medical assessment. Do not use an app-generated mechanics finding to diagnose the tissue involved.

Six tracking windows—not clearance milestones

There is no automatic advance from one row to the next. A clinician may hold or change the plan for longer than this workbook covers.

Common questions

Can I return to games after six weeks?

The six rows are for tracking, not a recovery prediction. Your clinician decides progression and clearance.

Can the app replace physical therapy?

No. The app can support organization and training records; it does not replace clinical evaluation or rehabilitation.

Evidence & source notes

These sources inform the principles, not a guarantee that this exact template produces an outcome. Coaching manuals are labeled separately from research. No proprietary program tables or illustrations have been reproduced.

1. Sgroi & Zajac (2018): Return to Throwing after Shoulder or Elbow Injury

   Return to throwing is a criteria-based rehabilitation decision, not a calendar deadline.

2. Haff & Triplett, Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning, 4th ed. (2016)

   Chapters 7, 17, 18, 20, 21 and 22: youth guidelines (1–3 sets of 6–15 repetitions, 2–3 nonconsecutive days per week, load increases of about 5–10%), exercise order and rest intervals, the two-for-two progression rule, plyometric prerequisites and 48–72 hour recovery with depth jumps contraindicated while growth plates are open, aerobic progression of no more than 10% per week, in-season maintenance with unloading weeks, and criterion-based return to play. Consulted from the supplied book; no program tables reproduced.