September 15, 2000•NY Times
BASEBALL; Gooden Gets Help in Stretching Arm and Career
By JACK CURRY
But the 35-year-old Gooden does not test his arm before brushing
his teeth anymore because it feels much looser and much better than it has
since he was in his 20's. Gooden has made a stunningly successful
comeback with the Yankees this summer by developing a changeup under Billy
Connors's tutelage, by pitching more aggressively and by adjusting to a
new role as a relief pitcher.
Still, one aspect of Gooden's return that has mostly been
overlooked is how he has improved his range of motion and the velocity on
his pitches through a cutting-edge type of muscular therapy. Gooden's
shoulder has been strengthened because his muscles have been lengthened
following treatment with a therapeutic robot called a Therbo Robot.
Less than a week after the Tampa Bay Devil Rays released Gooden
on May 25, he went to see Al Meilus of Meilus Muscular Therapy and Sports
in Pinellas Park, Fla. Jeff Ciszkowski, a former minor league pitcher who
had undergone treatment with a Therbo Robot after a back injury, had
implored Gooden to try it.
''The first time I heard about it, I was like, 'Come on. What's that?'
'' Gooden said. ''But then I got released and I was just begging
for anything. I was out of baseball, so I didn't have anything to lose.''
Meilus, a former electrical engineer who developed and patented the
Therbo Robot, told Gooden how overworked muscles produce lactic
acid and can lose their ability to cleanse themselves. That can cause a
collection of waste and make the muscles stiff. The Therbo Robot helps the
exhausted muscles by eliminating waste from the tissue, instituting normal
blood flow and allowing the muscles to stretch back to their normal
length.
Meilus told Gooden that he could never throw his best fastball
if he could not straighten his arm out at the elbow because he needs to
lift his arm behind his head to get full leverage. More leverage
translates into more power and more speed.
''This pulls the muscle to lengthen it back to its original state,''
Meilus said. ''This lets the muscle do what it wants to do.''
Gooden had more than a dozen treatments before rejoining the
Yankees in June and quickly noticed a difference in how much flexibility
his arm had. After throwing fastballs at 87 or 88 miles an hour while he
was with the Devil Rays, Gooden said that he hit 93 and averaged
from 89 to 91 in his last appearance for the Yankees. The results, which Gooden
noted are predicated on making precise pitches, are striking. Gooden
was a combined 2-3 with a 6.63 earned run average for Tampa Bay and
Houston, but he is 4-1 with a 3.04 E.R.A. for the Yankees.
''Dwight told us that his arm hadn't felt like this since he was 19,''
Meilus said. ''He was like a kid with a new toy.''
There are about 600 Therbo Robots around the country, but most of them
are in private homes, and Gooden grudgingly went without a
treatment while pitching the last two months.
Meilus flew from Tampa to New York with a portable machine last
Wednesday, set it up in Gooden's Midtown hotel room and treated the
shoulder. The robotic arm measured the muscles, the measurements were
inserted into a computer and then the arm moved across Gooden's
shoulder. The arm applied very precise and very controlled pressure to
lengthen the aggravated muscles, which sets off a reaction to initiate the
healing process.
Gooden has already scheduled his next session with Meilus when
the Yankees play Tampa Bay in 11 days and said that he will continue to be
treated by the Therbo Robot for the rest of his career.
''Just doing this doesn't mean I throw the ball wherever I want to,'' Gooden
said. ''But it's just like working out. This is another thing that can
help get me to the level that I want to be.''
