APEX PWR  |  Physical Therapy Feature

Physical Therapy for Throwers: Getting Javelin, Shot Put, and Discus Athletes Back to Competition

For throwing athletes, an injury in the wrong week can feel like the end of a season. The javelin, shot put, and discus place high, repetitive demands on the elbow and shoulder, and pain in those joints tends to show up at the worst possible time: right as the postseason arrives. The good news is that a throwing-specific physical therapy plan can often address the problem and return an athlete to competition faster than they expect.

That was the case for one Tualatin javelin thrower this spring.

A Senior Season Nearly Cut Short

Quinn Bowker, a senior javelin thrower from Tualatin, hurt his elbow at the start of his senior season. He thought it might be over. Instead, he came to APEX and worked with Dr. Jon van den Boogaard, DPT, OCS, USATF Level 2, who specializes in throwing athletes, over roughly four weeks leading into the state meet.

Quinn went on to place fourth in the javelin at the 2026 OSAA 6A State Championships at Hayward Field, and his points helped Tualatin win the boys team state title. Here is how he described the experience in his own words:

Stories like Quinn's are why we do this work. A throwing injury does not have to mean a lost season, and the right plan can make the difference between sitting out and standing on the podium.

Not Your Standard Physical Therapy

In his review, Quinn described working with "one of their main trainers who specializes in throwers." That is a natural way to describe the experience, and it points to something that sets APEX apart. Many people picture physical therapy as a clinic visit: reduce the pain, restore basic motion, get discharged. For an athlete, that is only half the job. Getting out of pain is not the same as being ready to throw a javelin at full effort in a state final.

Our physical therapists are trained to take an athlete all the way back to sport. We have the space to load and train, the VALD performance testing suite to measure progress objectively, and the coaching expertise to rebuild an athlete to compete at a high level. That combination is what lets us bridge the gap from injured to competition-ready, rather than handing an athlete off mid-recovery and hoping the rest works out.

VALD testing matters because it replaces guesswork with data. Objective measures of strength, power, and left-to-right symmetry tell us whether an athlete is truly ready for the next stage of loading, or whether a hidden deficit still needs work. The athlete gains confidence knowing the return-to-sport decision rests on measured progress rather than the absence of pain alone.

In Dr. Jon's case, the line between therapist and coach barely exists. He is a Doctor of Physical Therapy and an Orthopedic Certified Specialist who also coaches throwers as a USA Track and Field Level 2 coach, so the rehab plan and the training plan are the same plan, carried out by the same person who understands the demands of the event.

While this article focuses on track throwers, the same expertise applies to overhead and throwing athletes of every kind. The shoulder and elbow mechanics that matter for a javelin thrower carry over directly to quarterbacks and pitchers, and Dr. Jon works well with all of them.

That is the difference between physical therapy that ends in a clinic and physical therapy that ends on the podium.

Why This Work Matters to Us

Quinn's story is a reminder of a primary reason APEX exists in the first place.

APEX co-founder Jeron Mastrud dealt with injuries throughout his athletic career. It started at Southridge High School in Beaverton with right lateral meniscus surgery. It followed him to Kansas State University, where he had left meniscus surgery during the offseason between his junior and senior years, then a right foot stress fracture his senior year heading into the NFL. The injuries continued across four NFL seasons as a tight end: an MCL sprain he played through during his second season, and a bilateral sports hernia that required surgery.

He knows what it feels like to be told a season, or a career, might be over. He also knows the difference between rehab that gets you out of pain and rehab that actually gets you back on the field. That experience is built into how APEX approaches every injured athlete who walks through the door. We treat the athletes the way we wish we had been treated: with a plan to get all the way back, beyond simply out of pain.

One of the reasons we wanted a place like APEX in our hometown was so athletes here could get high-level, comprehensive care while having their confidence restored to perform at a championship level and chase their athletic goals, whatever those may be. We did not want anyone to look back years later and say "I would have done this, if it had not been for my knee."

We cannot fix everything, and some injuries are untimely in ways no plan can undo. We are honest about that. What we can promise is a team equipped to help athletes from every sport as well as possible, inside a space unlike any other in the region.

When a high school senior shows up worried his last season is slipping away, that history is in the room with him. We have been there. We built this place so the next athlete would not have to go through it alone.

Why Throwing Athletes Are Prone to Elbow and Shoulder Injuries

Throwing events generate some of the highest joint loads in all of sport. The javelin in particular requires the elbow and shoulder to decelerate at high speed, which stresses the soft tissues that stabilize those joints. Shot put and discus load the shoulder, trunk, and hips through powerful rotational and pressing patterns. Over a long season, repeated exposure to these loads can outpace the body's ability to recover, and pain follows.

A common mistake is to treat only the spot that hurts. In throwers, elbow or shoulder pain frequently traces back to limitations elsewhere in the kinetic chain. If the hips and trunk are not transferring force efficiently, the arm is left to make up the difference, and the smaller joints pay the price.

What Physical Therapy for Throwers Involves

A throwing physical therapist approaches the athlete as a whole system rather than a single sore joint. At APEX, Dr. Jon van den Boogaard, DPT, OCS, combines his clinical training as a Doctor of Physical Therapy and Orthopedic Certified Specialist with hands-on coaching of throwers, which shapes how he builds a return-to-throw plan. His approach generally moves through a few stages.

Because APEX houses physical therapy, performance testing, and strength coaching in the same facility, the handoff from rehab back to full training is direct. An athlete does not finish PT and then start over somewhere else. The strength and throwing work continues in the same place, with the same team aware of the history.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Physical Therapy in Tigard, OR
• Strength Training at APEX