Just by reading the title, you definitely aren’t getting the whole picture of what I’m talking about. Over the years, we have been able to see and work with a ton of quarterbacks that present with natural physical traits that either make them great players, or make them players that have some obstacles to climb in order to have success. We have also been able to cluster some of these traits together that seem to follow a pretty common path for a lot of quarterbacks. That’s what we want to highlight today! There’s a pretty good chance that if you’re reading this blog post, you know of someone who falls into this category.

Hypermobile, Hypomobile, Both??

In the physical therapy and strength and conditioning world, we generally break down players into 2 categories. These would be hypermobile and hypomobile. Hypermobile would be when a player presents with general stiffness all throughout the body. It’s seen mostly in the shoulders, thoracic spine, hips, and ankles. Hypermobility is when the player is extremely flexible, but needs some stability in places to help control the body for better success. Is it possible to be a hybrid of this though? Absolutely, it can! That’s where this article comes in on the traits of the worst type of QB that is out there.

Why so bad?

First, let’s dive into some of the traits that make up this hybrid type of QB. The biggest problem that we see is that this type of QB has stiffness where we want mobility and they have instability where we want some stiffness. Yes, that sentence is confusing when first looking at it. Let me explain further and also introduce the joints that we are going to be talking about today.

Problem Area #1- The Ankle

We are going to start from the ground up because that’s how force is produced in the throwing motion. The ankle is a joint that is ALMOST ALWAYS stiff in football players. This is because of the culture of the game of football wearing ankle braces, as well as getting taped all the time. The stiff ankle doesn’t necessarily affect the throwing motion directly, but it can affect it indirectly. If the ankle is stiff and can’t move well, then the arch of the foot is always going to collapse. The movement has to come from somewhere and this is where it’s going to come from. If the arch is collapsed, then the QB is automatically pushing off from an unstable surface on the drive leg when he goes to throw the ball. This means that we are automatically leaving some performance on the table. And guess what? This instability/weakness of the foot won’t be getting any better until you fix the range of motion issue at the ankle. See the two videos below quarterbacks for a more detailed explanation and also how to fix the ankle range of motion restriction.

Problem Area #2- The Hip

This is an area that we hit on non-stop, but it is because of good reason. The hips are the main power producer for throwers and will always be the main power producer. It is safe to say that 99% of the quarterbacks that we work with present with range of motion problems when they start working with us. This is a huge problem! The two most common range of motion areas that we see are in ranges of hip extension and hip internal rotation. Without pre-requisite range of motion in each of these, it’s easy to say that a QB will never be able to access full potential. Below, we explain these issues in much more depth and also show how to fix them!

Problem Area #3- The Trunk

In the case of the “worst type of QB,” it’s important to realize that the trunk issues that are present will never be resolved until the hip range of motion restriction is fixed first. Let me repeat! Quarterbacks have to work on hip flexibility in order to give yourself a chance at gaining stability in the trunk. Why is this you might ask? The musculature that is stiff will always pull the trunk into a bad position (most of the time an over extended position) in which the musculature of the trunk can’t overcome. This means that no matter how many planks, dead bugs, or bird dogs you do, it will never overcome bad position that is being caused by stiff hips. So what does this mean? This means that you need to refer to the paragraph above and fix those issues first before you can think about making a change in trunk stability. With that said, I have added a video below that can be used for trunk stability once hip flexibility is taken care of.

Problem Area #4- The Shoulder

When talking about this type of QB, we see a lot of really great flexibility in the throwing arm, but there’s often an inability to know where stability is and where end range needs to be during the motion in order to be successful. Quarterbacks often have so much range of motion in the shoulder, especially into ranges of external rotation, that they don’t know when they should stop during the loading phase of throwing. This creates a host of problems as the sequencing and control of the shoulder girdle is created. Well, how do we fix this? The first thing we need to do is fix the trunk and the hips. Making the central portion of the body is always a priority. Once this pre-requisite is met, then we need to work stability, stability, stability. The quarterback needs to be stable in all the overhead positions during the loading, acceleration, and deceleration phases of the motion. This means a lot of specificity in the types of exercises that the player will do. Examples are below!

Why is this the Worst Type of QB?

Well, all of these issues affect the sequencing of the QB throwing motion greatly. When trying to create force going forward, we need certain structures to be very stiff/stable (abdominals/torso, shoulder, scapula) while other areas create the force moving forward to increase velocity and accuracy. (glutes, shoulder extensors and internal rotators) These common problem areas cause a ripple effect up the whole body where the release point of the football starts trailing a little more with each issue. Over extension in the spine and shoulder instability is a recipe for disaster for QB’s. This is why SO many quarterbacks miss high on throws over and over and over. Even when coached, the body just can’t perform the movement efficiently.

What to do?

Well, y’all need to identify the issues that you have and determine if you fall into this category first. Second, if you do, use the exercises listed above to start to reversing all of the negative adaptations. You can always reach out to use as well! We are here to help in any way we can. A good number to call/text is 812-343-4226.

-Drew Kiel PT, DPT, CSCS