MRCO BLOG
Medical Musings, Health Hypotheses & Therapeutic Thoughts
Cricket Injuries Part IWith Footy Finals just around the corner, if you haven’t yet started your summer sport pre-season training, well, you probably should (as I’m sure your coaches are telling you!). Although Spring officially starts at the beginning of September, as any Melburnian worth the name knows the weather doesn’t really get ‘unwintery’ (to coin a term) until December. Part of the problem is due to rigidly applying a (European) seasonal calendar to an incredibly ecologically diverse continent. It is telling that indigenous peoples counted very different seasons, ranging from the attractively direct ‘wet’, ‘cold’, and ‘hot’ in the Miriwoong calendar, to six or more. In Melbourne and its surrounds, the Kulin people counted seven annual seasons, as well as two non-annual seasons (fire and flood). FYI, we are currently in Petyan, the season of wildflowers. It sounds they nailed it pretty well, which you’d expect after thousands of years of observations. However, our cricket coaches do not seem to subscribe to this view! Most will have probably been exhorting you to get out and start your pre-season since mid-August or so, because summer’s ‘just around the corner’. If you’ve been out there working on your conditioning and flexibility since the solstice, goodonya. However, for many of us, it will be now, as we finish up our winter sports seasons and the days start to get lighter earlier, that we start getting back into it. Take a moment to review our Spring Into Spring ™ blog, which looks more generally at some of the issues surrounding getting back into a training regimen. Common Cricket Injuries - Types and PrevalenceCricket injuries generally fall into a few different categories. Direct injuries occur due to impact, with either the ball, bat, or ground. Obviously these will not all be as severe or tragic as in the case of Phil Hughes, but a cricket ball is bloody hard, and going bloody fast, so it is not surprising that it is a common cause of injury. Indirect injuries are often due to overuse, especially with the combination of repetitive movements, long periods of not doing much, and then sudden explosive activity. It is also often played in hot conditions over many hours, so dehydration, heat stress and sun damage also come into play. Although cricket is a non-contact sport, and, indeed, shows much lower rates of injury compared to say, Aussie Rules, still around 8-12% of cricketers will have an injury at any given time, and data from elite players (aren’t we all??) shows they occur at a rate of around 18 injuries (in total) for a squad of 25 who play 20 matches in a season[1]
In general, bowling (41.3%), fielding and wicket-keeping (28.6%) account for most injuries[3]. I am not sure why fielding and wicket keeping are combined in this data, as Orchard et al found the injury prevalence was very low (2%) in wicket-keepers. The most common injury is hamstring strain[4]. Side strains are also very common. These sorts of strains can be explained by the very sudden sprinting, reaching and throwing that may be required repeatedly over the course of a seven hour day The picture is slightly complicated by the different physical demands involved in the different types of cricket (five-day tests/three day/one day/Twenty20 etc), which will stress different parts of the body. However, these strain injuries appear to be prevalent through all types of cricket Low back pain is also very common, particularly among pace bowlers. In young pace bowlers, the repetitive action of prolonged bowling places them at risk of lumbar stress fractures, which obviously does not bode well for the rest of your season. Shoulder injuries are also obviously very common throughout cricket. The group of muscles called the rotator cuff helps to stabilise the shoulder through it’s huge range of movement. Throwing/bowling uses a big range and combination of the types of movement available at the shoulder, and hence these muscles have to work very hard, putting them at risk of overuse or traumatic (e.g. tear) injuries. Elbow overuse injuries are also not uncommon, particularly affecting the inside of the elbow, where many of the muscles that flex the wrist and hand attach. This is normally known as “golfer’s elbow”, but no-one will be confused if you call it “cricket” or “thrower’s elbow”. The final 'snap' of the elbow as you release the ball puts huge stress on this area. Ankle injuries are also common, often due to quick changes of direction, especially while running or jumping. Sports Medicine Australia recommends that an ankle brace should be worn for at least three months following a serious ankle injury. It is also worth noting that children and adolescents, due to the developing nature of their musculoskeletal system, may be at risk of other issues that older players are not. As mentioned earlier, young pace bowlers are more prone to spondylolysis, a kind of stress fracture in the vertebra. Other issues such as Osgood Schlatter’s and Sinding-Larssen-Johansson syndromes, which affect the knee in adolescence, or Sever’s disease, affecting the heel, are potentially predisposed towards by high levels of physical activity (as found in all sports). Cricket Australia GuidelinesBecause of this (and other injuries), recently Cricket Australia published a number of guidelines surrounding fast bowling loads for adolescents. These have been designed to minimise the risk of injury. AGE U11 3 over limit each spell & 6 overs maximum per day U13 4 over limit each spell & 8 overs maximum per match Target* of 100-120 balls per week U15 4-6 weeks bowling preparation before the season 5 over limit each spell & 12 overs maximum per match Target* 100-120 balls per week U17 6-8 weeks bowling preparation before the season 6 over maximum each spell & 16 overs maximum per match Target* 120-150 balls per week U19 8-10 weeks bowling preparation before the season 7 over limit each spell & 20 overs maximum per match Target 150-180 balls per week *weekly targets are a combination of training and match bowling. Junior bowlers should also rest for 3.5 days per week from bowling. Cricket Australia also recommends that coaches should undertake regular re-accreditation and education to ensure their knowledge is kept up to date. It is also worth noting that while the prevalence of cricket injuries has increased over the past decades (probably due to the greater physical prowess required, game format changes, higher number of games played, and less rest time between matches) the severity has decreased[5]. Advances in treatment (such as by osteopaths! As well as other non-surgical, and surgical, techniques) mean the time to return to play has also dropped significantly as well. In coming blogs, we will consider some of the more common cricket injuries, and how we can minimise their chance of occurrence; and, failing that, what you can do to help speed your recovery and get you back to your game as soon as possible. References [1] Orchard J, James T, Portus M. Injuries to elite male cricketers in Australia over a 10-year period. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport . 2006; 9:459-67 [2] (Injuries in Australian cricket at first class level1995/1996 to 2000/2001J Orchard, T James, E Alcott, S Carter, P Farhart Br J Sports Med2002;36:270–275 [3] Cricket injuries: a longitudinal study of the nature of injuries to South African cricketers. Stretch RA; Br J Sports Med. 2003 Jun; 37(3):250-3; discussion 253 [4] Pardiwala DN, Rao NN, Varshney AV. Injuries in Cricket. Sports Health. 2018;10(3):217–222. doi:10.1177/1941738117732318 [5] Pardiwala DN, Rao NN, Varshney AV. Injuries in Cricket. Sports Health. 2018;10(3):217–222. doi:10.1177/1941738117732318 Further ReadingJohn Orchard is a bit of a gun when it comes to sports research in Australia, and I would strongly recommend anyone with an interest have a look at his work. Much of his research is available on his website, in full article form.
FYI this is pretty common for academics, who obviously want as many people as possible to read the work they’ve put so much time and effort into! A few examples consulted for this blog include: Orchard, J., Kountouris, A., Sims, K. (2016). Incidence and prevalence of elite male cricket injuries using updated consensus definitions. Open Access Journal of Sports Medicine, 7, 187-194 Humphries, D., Orchard, J., Kountouris, A. (2015). Abdominal Wall Injuries at the Elite Level in Australian Male Professional Cricketers. Journal of Postgraduate Medicine, Education and Research, 49(4), 155-158 Orchard, JW., Kountouris, A., Sims, K., Orchard, JJ, Beakley, D., Brukner, P. (2015). Change to injury profile of elite male cricketers in the T20 era. New Zealand Journal of Sports Medicine, 42(1), 13-17. Orchard, JW., Kountouris, A., Sims, K., Orchard, JJ, Beakley, D., Brukner, P. (2015). Injury Report 2014 - Cricket Australia, (pp. 1 - 25). Australia, Australia. Leave a Reply. |
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23/9/2019
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