Auburn Ed Talks
Auburn Ed Talks is the official podcast of Auburn University’s College of Education. On this podcast, we spotlight the people, ideas and innovations shaping the future of education.
Auburn Ed Talks
Inside the Science of Movement: Injury Prevention & Performance at Plainsman Park
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For this episode of Auburn Ed Talks, our Student Ambassdor sits down with Dr. Gretchen Oliver, Professor in our College's School of Kinesiology, Director of the Sports Medicine and Movement Lab, and one of the nation's leading experts in baseball and softball injury prevention. With baseball and softball season in "full swing," hear about her unique partnership with the teams and research she and her students conduct from within Plainsman Park.
Welcome back to Auburn ED Talks, the official podcast of Auburn University's College of Education, recorded in the Frances and William Kochan Media Production Room at our new College of Education building. This podcast spotlights the people, ideas, and innovations shaping the future of education and beyond. Today, we'll be talking about the cutting edge sports medicine and biomechanics research happening right here at Auburn's own Plainsman Park. Featured in today's episode is someone who knows this work better than anyone. Dr. Gretchen Oliver, Professor in our College's School of Kinesiology, Director of the Sports Medicine and Movement Lab, and one of the nation's leading experts in baseball and softball injury prevention. And she'll be joined by one of our amazing student ambassadors, Ainsley Watts. So let's get to talking.
Student Ambassador:Hey, everyone. I'm Ainsley, a student majoring in rehab and disability studies and a student ambassador in the College of Education. Today, I have the privilege of sitting down with Dr. Gretchen Oliver right here on Auburn Ed Talks.
Dr. Oliver:Hi, Ainsley, thank you so much for inviting me today.
Student Ambassador:We're so glad that you're on. Before we dive into biomechanics and baseball, let's warm up with a lightning round. Is that good with you?
Dr. Oliver:Sure. Let's go.
Student Ambassador:Where is your hometown?
Dr. Oliver:My hometown is Stuttgart, Arkansas.
Student Ambassador:Okay.
Dr. Oliver:Do you know where that is?
Student Ambassador:I'm not sure.
Dr. Oliver:You know where Arkansas.
Student Ambassador:Yes.
Dr. Oliver:Okay.
Student Ambassador:Is it a small town?
Dr. Oliver:It's a very small town. It's southeast Arkansas and, we're known for rice and ducks, so.
Student Ambassador:Okay.
Dr. Oliver:Farming town.
Student Ambassador:Okay. I'm from Ozark, Alabama so, very small, too.
Dr. Oliver:Okay.
Student Ambassador:Yeah, but we're known for peanuts.
Dr. Oliver:North Alabama? South?
Student Ambassador:South Alabama.
Dr. Oliver:Interesting.
Student Ambassador:Yeah. When did you join Auburn and what brought you here from Arkansas?
Dr. Oliver:I joined Auburn fall of 2012.
Student Ambassador:Okay.
Dr. Oliver:And, previously I was at the University of Arkansas. And so home state and everything. So I would give great, props to Dr. Mary Rudisill, who convinced me this was the best place ever. But really, the fact the School of Kinesiology brought me here for what I was doing and, just gave me the resources to continue on.
Student Ambassador:Okay, so tell us a little bit about what you're doing and about your research.
Dr. Oliver:So I am the Director of the Sports Medicine Movement Lab in the School of Kinesiology. And our primary focus is injury prevention and performance enhancement in baseball and softball athletes. So we have taken a very narrow approach to sports medicine and biomechanics, where you could say, oh, we can look at anything, but we solely do baseball and softball. So we have, three labs, which we may get into, but overall, we, bring in area youth, into the lab, both baseball and softball. We work with collegiate teams and, primary. If we can examine injury prevention, then ultimately we could get performance enhancement, because if they're injury free, they're going to be on the field longer. but that's that's the bulk of what we do.
Student Ambassador:So did you play softball at all?
Dr. Oliver:I did not.
Student Ambassador:Okay, interesting.
Dr. Oliver:However, I was, at the University of Arkansas, and I'm going to date myself now. And it was back when Arkansas joined the SEC. And so that's when fastpitch softball started up.
Student Ambassador:Yeah.
Dr. Oliver:So if you remember me telling you I'm from rural Arkansas, we did not have fast pitch softball. So when I saw it at the university as a masters, I was quite intrigued. And as I went on to get my Ph.D., I was watching the windmill softball pitch and I felt like there's some inefficiencies. I couldn't figure it out. So that is why I started researching softball.
Student Ambassador:So are you specifically doing stuff for the overhead, like motion of pitching or how does that correlate with baseball too?
Dr. Oliver:Honestly, that is that is probably the most popular question I get. And it's because they're like, well, softball's underhanded and baseball is overhand. So how do they relate? They are very similar. If you, just think about different arm slots with pitchers. So you could have a submarine pitcher and that's honestly, the forces that occur about the shoulder and elbow are very similar to those that occur in baseball. It's just at different points in the motion. So they're both high risk, trying to throw fast with high loads.
Student Ambassador:I just personally was interested because I played softball and I had a shoulder injury while I was playing.
Dr. Oliver:Were you a pitcher?
Student Ambassador:I was not. I was a catcher. Yeah. So mine was the overhead motion of throwing, not the underhand pitch.
Dr. Oliver:And we look at catchers too. That's another story outside of this.
Student Ambassador:Yeah, I'll have to ask you about it later. If you weren't in sports medicine and research, what career do you think you choose?
Dr. Oliver:Oh, wow. Now on that, I'd stay true with my roots. So it would be landscape architecture. Probably landscape design.
Student Ambassador:Okay.
Dr. Oliver:Just from growing up on the farm and the meticulous aspect of it.
Student Ambassador:That's so cool and so different from what you're doing.
Dr. Oliver:So when I grow up, one of these days, I may become that.
Student Ambassador:Okay. That's so cool. Do you think you’d move back to Arkansas?
Dr. Oliver:We have -- we have a lot of farming land there. So I do spend a lot of time there. But would I give up roots here? Probably not.
Student Ambassador:Yeah. It's so great here. What do you think your favorite Auburn tradition is?
Dr. Oliver:So being from- not from Alabama - being from Arkansas, and a little history there, Arkansas, we don't have any professional teams. It's just the university.
Student Ambassador:So similar to us.
Dr. Oliver:Doesn't matter what other....you just go to the university.
Student Ambassador:Yeah.
Dr. Oliver:But when I came here, it was the, the aspect of when you see someone and you see like the, the brand, you say War Eagle I think within a month of being here, I was in London Heathrow Airport, and I just had a little bitty pin on my backpack and I hear War Eagle, and it took me a minute to realize, oh, they're talking to me. So that I think is very strong with Auburn, and it's not as strong at other institutions. When you see someone, you just say, War Eagle.
Student Ambassador:Yeah, I would say that's true. I went out of the country for spring break, and while I was in the other country, I saw someone in the airport and they did the same thing. They saw the Auburn on my shirt and told me, War Eagle. So I love that. Now we're going to shift gears and we're going to start talking more about the incredible work that you're doing in sports medicine and movement Lab, especially the research you conduct at Auburn's Plainsman Park. To start off, tell us about the focus of your research and the outcomes you aim to achieve. I know you've talked a little bit about it, but if you could go into more detail.
Dr. Oliver:So with the outcomes we are very, very research driven. And, I feel that the research drive, that evidence is what allows all the outcomes. If it's service, if it's outreach, whatever it is. But overall, I want kids to be able to compete, be able to play the sport that they love and be injury free. At the same time, and to get that enjoyment. And so that's the overall. We have the - since you mentioned Plainsman Park, we have in the lab, then we have in bullpen at Plainsman Park, and we have in game at Plainsman Park and that has allowed us to take it to another level of really looking at these performance measures in the lab. Did they hold true on the field? Also, those red flags that we found in the lab, are those the same things that we find on the field. So ultimately we want to mitigate injury. So if we can start developing some models because in the lab is in the lab, but the real life on the field to make a difference and to really see what's going on there.
Student Ambassador:Tell us about some of the things that you're doing in the lab. So you were talking about the real life models compared to real life people. What are some of the things in the lab in general that you're doing?
Dr. Oliver:So in the lab, with the in-house School of Kinesiology, it's going to be more it's going to be youth coming in and we will track youth. So they'll come in like every 9 to 12 months, so we can look at longitudinal stuff. And we do all of our softball from in the lab. Then, within on the field, it's going to be solely Auburn University. So what we're doing there is, we'll have them throw simulated games. We're going to have them throw out different pitches. And yes, we're talking solely about pitchers. However, we do a lot with hitting. We do a lot with the positional players. You mentioned catcher. That's one thing unique about our lab, where we have 120 feet for the catcher to throw from home to second base. So, a lot of times with catchers, you know, they may shorten their throw because the batter’s there. Is that an injurous action that they're doing? So, in lab, it's going to be very much controlled. So we want to take what we found in lab and take it to the next level. Does it hold true in a practice setting such as the bullpen. What we're doing in the bullpen, does that then hold true on the field? And the fact that we can get on the field, we're actually getting true fatigue data versus throwing a simulated game. Because in the lab there's no runners on. Even if we tell them there's runners on, there's no crowd. There's not that adrenaline. So that's - we're just trying to build like in a stair step with the labs.
Student Ambassador:So then once you're actually at Plainsman Park or on the field, how does that research look?
Dr. Oliver:In Plainsman Park, we have 16 cameras and they're marker-less motion capture. So we have eight cameras on the pitcher. And eight cameras on the hitter. Thus, we are collecting every single pitch of every home game of both our team and the away team. We're also collecting on every single swing of the bat. The whole thing within Plainsman Park that, I want to make clear is that it's not just what the lab is doing, it's that collaboration where we know what we've gotten in the lab. And I can tell you about the mechanics that I see from the data. However, it's the collaboration from the pitching coach, from, coach Thompson, from all the support staff of the athletic trainers, sports medicine, strength and conditioning that then we work together. So it's really then, based on what they are looking at within the athlete, each individualized athlete. And that's how we focus the data there versus say, in the lab. I might have a specific question, and that's the direction we're going. On the field, that is true, true real life. What are we working on with this individual kid?
Student Ambassador:All of those collaborations are so cool with the athletic trainers and the coaches. Can you tell me the importance of those collaborations with your research?
Dr. Oliver:The collaborations are huge, because, again, if you think about, the human body is so complex, so just because I can tell you what your mechanics are doing, if I cannot relate to what is going on with the individual, what we're working on. So with these collaborations, it allows several different things of one, my students to see how to take the research and apply it. we actually have one, I would say one of the few, I’d say the only one that is structured like we are to have that collaboration where my PhD students can see, okay, what have we found in the lab, then take it to the next level and be able to discuss those things with coaches. And here and we really are mainly going to the coaches and listening, listening to the coaches and understanding what the coach and the athlete need and then figuring out, okay, how can I take this complex data set and make it where within one sentence it makes sense. and it's pretty unique here. And everyone really are striving to be able to develop something like we've got going.
Student Ambassador:When listening to the coaches and listening to the athletes, what do you feel like is the most common challenge that they're facing?
Dr. Oliver:Well, there's never an easy answer. There's and there's never just one answer. I could have ten answers that are correct. So a lot of times we get in trouble when we just try to chase for one answer, because it's usually not just one thing. Maybe that one thing is the problem. However, we have to step back and look at what is actually causing the problem.
Student Ambassador:What do you feel like are common things that athletes are facing, like injury wise that you're working to prevent?
Dr. Oliver:Hands down, it's going to be the elbow injuries in, baseball from the youth level on. That's the most common. Then the next is the shoulder. When we're looking at softball, it's typically the shoulder injuries prior to the elbow injuries. And again, that is making sure that we have solid mechanics from the ground up. But the upper extremity injuries are the number one issue.
Student Ambassador:For students interested in biomechanics or sports medicine, what do you feel like are some of the skills that matter most, and what should they be focused on when they enter the field?
Dr. Oliver:Oh that's a hard question. My gut would just be to say that they need to have intellectual curiosity because, if you have the intellectual curiosity and I know they could be like, okay, you're really not answering the question. No, if you had the intellectual curiosity, you're going to want to learn as much as you can. And it's not just one skill set. And so a lot of my students come from a variety of backgrounds, and that is what matters when you think of our collaboration, it's not just the coach I'm working with. It's not just the athlete. It's, you know, or strength and conditioning or sports medicine. So having an array skill set. And then I would say just the want to, to learn more.
Student Ambassador:This has been so insightful for me and just so interesting to hear about. I’m in biomechanics right now, so,
Dr. Oliver:Oh nice.
Student Ambassador:I just love getting to hear all of this. Before we wrap up, what's one key takeaway that you hope listeners remember about injury prevention and performance?
Dr. Oliver:You want the kid to have fun. If the kid's having fun, then a lot of times things are mitigated. It's when they start not to have fun and we put too much pressure on them. Then that's when it's like, oh, they're going to try harder, but are they trying out of their means? Are they not developed enough? So have fun.
Student Ambassador:That's great advice. I love that. Well, thank you so much, Dr. Oliver, for being with us on this episode of Auburn Ed Talks and for giving us a behind the scenes look at the science happening at Plainsman Park and beyond. And thanks to everyone for listening. Be sure to subscribe for more conversations that inspire, inform and ignite your passion for education, health and innovation.
Dr. Oliver:War Eagle!