Former Major League pitcher Bryan Corey has created The Pro Reliever, a portable massage device that is having a major impact in helping pitchers warm up and get loose. In his words, he shares his thoughts on his mission to help pitchers and all athletes:

In pro ball, I was throwing quite a bit at and getting into a lot of games. In the bullpen, it’s, ‘Hurry up and get loose quick,” and you don’t have the treatments and work from a trainer. That’s sometimes five, six hours before. Now you’re trying to get loose again in the bullpen and we don’t have access to that same treatment.

Usually, I would go to the training room and do my active release and shoulder work, then go throw. One day, I didn’t have a chance to do that, so I used a broom to quickly massage under my arm. I started throwing, and I was like, “Oh my gosh, I’m totally loose.”

I started thinking maybe I could get something you could do yourself. I kept thinking about it. Fast forward to coaching club baseball and pro guys, and guys would come up to me and say their arms are killing them, they can’t throw, they’re throwing in practice, they have private lessons. And I saw this as something they could quickly use on their own.

It’s hard to get trigger point therapy or massage-type stuff when you really need to help loosen up your shoulder and to get that range of motion back that allows your arm to move more freely, which helps reduce the risk of injury and it helps you feel better. Pitchers stress the muscle and they just get tired and fatigued and this allows you to loosen it up and move more freely.

Before I created this, I used a broom at the field and I just leaned into the handle. And then I used a rake, and right away, I was like, “Oh, my Lord. Yes.” I was just looking for something to get in there, to mimic somebody’s thumbs, and pin it down, and kind of stretch it out a little bit. But I can’t really do that and really get in there and find those tight spots.

To use it, you stick it under your shoulder, just up underneath there, kind of in the back part of your armpit where it meets into the sub-scap area. Guys get tight in the rotator cuff, and sometimes in the front, depending on how they throw or how much they throw. You just kind of find the hot spots, and sometimes you can kind of hit some nerves and stuff, and you just move it around, you kind of slide it, but you want to be in the belly of the muscle tissue too. And that’s kind of where you feel the most effect and you get the best release, and you can kind of get into that lat and that sub-scap up underneath the arm. And I have yet to find a device that can really do it the way that this product can do it.

It’s just kind of been full circle from my time in San Diego to today, and it’s coming to fruition. They can do it themselves and they can knock it out and loosen up their shoulder area. They can also loosen up their back, their elbow, whatever. And it’s just by leaning into it and applying that pressure. And it’s lightweight, and small enough to fit in their bags. Most kids have massive bags anyway. It doesn’t need to be charged. There’s no mechanics to it.

I know if you feel better, you generally are going to play better. It doesn’t mean you will, but you have a much better chance of having a better performance. So it’s just a win-win all around.

If I’m not there or the trainer is not there, the coaches aren’t going to do it. I’m not going to do it, obviously, and their parents aren’t going to do it in the middle of a game or before a game or in between games like in tournaments. It’s something that they can do themselves. And I had this vision about what I wanted to accomplish. So that’s where it came about.

In the bullpen, guys mainly will use plyo balls. Also, they’ll play catch with the outfielders. That’s one of the reasons why I created this. It is to minimize the amount of throws and wear-and-tear you have to put on your arm to keep loose and stay loose. You don’t have to make as many throws. And then when you get up, you’re looser and you need less time to get loose. You’ve already used this to get loose, and now you can just get ready. And the same thing in the dugout with a long inning or a delay. I see guys just throw plyos, but it’s all still wear-and-tear, you know? And this is not wear-and-tear. It’s just easier. The concept of loose is really what everyone’s aspiring for, right?

I know there are several high school and college guys that were hurting in the shoulder and they’re good now. The only thing they changed was using this. I know how that sounds, but that’s just the truth. And it’s not just for pitchers. It’s for all throwers as guys just get tired sometimes. It’s really for wherever you feel like you’re tight.

The beauty of what I have with the Pro Reliever is the end of it is small enough to still get those spots, but not too small that it digs in or it’s too pointy. It’s got a softer cap to it on one end and when you’re on a spot, you really feel it. But it’s not like you’re digging in and it hurts from digging. That was something that was really important to me because you want to still be able to get in there.

It’s not necessarily like it’s needed every day. Sometimes you just feel good and when you’re constantly working in an area, that area starts to get used to it and it stays looser.

I really just want to help people stay healthy and give themselves the best chance to feel as good as they can and perform in this game and in life in general, not just in this game. My friend recently saw one of the top two-way players in Arizona, and he’s got a bat in his hand, a Gatorade, and he’s got one of my sticks. And my friend said, “Hey, is that a Pro Reliever? How do you like it?” And he goes, “It’s awesome. I sit there playing video games at home and I just dig in. I take it out here to the field and I use it before I go out and start throwing. And it’s just like magic.”

I’ll give it to a kid or the kids will buy it and then I get feedback. I know what the feedback is going to be. I know how they’re going to feel. It’s a rhetorical question. I already know because once you use it, you kind of go, “Oh yeah.”

We’re trying to educate people on this stuff. It doesn’t have to be fancy. It doesn’t have to be gadgety. It doesn’t have to be all these bells and whistles. It can be simple. I’ve never had an arm injury in my 33 years in the game, 20 years total pitching. I had to grind through two years for five teams in the majors, 12 years in Triple-A, going overseas and doing two years in Japan, one in Korea, one in Taiwan. I take so much pride in not ever having missed a day for my arm.

I’m all in to reach as many people. It is in Australia, it’s in Japan and it’s in South Africa. Penn State has been pretty prominent using it. It’s at other programs and several high schools, like Casteel High School in Arizona and they’re one of the top programs in the country. It’s mostly players, including a bunch of MLB and minor league players.

Every time I hear stuff like this, I just get excited and it makes me feel like I’m on the right track here.