How avatars can help athletes improve performance, avoid pain

Modern baseball players are relying on the same concept used in the futuristic film Avatar where miners working on the lush planet Pandora employ giant blue creatures that mimic their body movements.

According to Fox News, while working at the clinic in Foxborough, Massachusetts, researchers recently placed a series of reflective markers on 19-year-old pitcher Jake Murray.

By watching his own pitching motion as reflected in the avatar, research director Donna Moxley Scarborough was able to diagnose some flaws in the pitcher's wind up that caused him pain when employing his curveball, the report said.

Scarborough said that the team noticed that the pitcher had some limitations in muscle length and some strength issues.

Red Sox team physician Eric Berkson said that the technology they had, allowed them to view the whole body motion in three dimensions and from that data, they were able to develop specialized training programs for injury recovery or maximizing athletic performance.