Control of finger grip forces in overarm throws made by skilled throwers

In an overarm throw, as the hand opens and the ball rolls along the fingers, the ball exerts a back force on the fingers. Previous studies suggested that skilled throwers compensate for this back force by producing an appropriate finger flexor torque to oppose the back force, but it was unclear how this is controlled by the CNS. We investigated whether the increase in finger flexor torque is timed precisely to occur late in the throw as the fingers open or whether the increase occurs throughout the throw to anticipate the increase in hand acceleration. Recreational ball players threw balls of different weights and diameters at different speeds from both a sitting and standing position while arm joint rotations were recorded with the search-coil technique. Force transducers were taped to the distal and middle phalanges of the middle finger and subjects released the ball from this finger. Passive forces on the finger were also recorded in "fake" throws in which the ball was taped to the finger and subjects did not grip the ball. These skilled throwers correctly anticipated the magnitude of the back force from the ball on the finger because the mean amplitude of finger extension did not increase in throws made with a large range of increasing back forces. This was achieved by subjects gripping the ball during the backswing with a force proportional to ball weight and intended ball speed (acceleration) and progressively increasing the grip force throughout the back-swing and forward throw. The magnitude of this grip force during the forward throw was not affected by ball texture. After ball release from the fingertip, the finger flexed in proportion to the peak force on the finger before ball release. It is concluded, in a skilled fast overarm throw where large, fast-changing forces on the fingers result from the sum of motions at all arm joints, that finger flexor torque is progressively increased throughout the throw in an anticipatory (predictive) fashion to counteract the progressively increasing back force from the ball.