With the cricket season well underway & hot off the Boxing Day test, whether its on the cricket pitch or in the backyard many Australian’s are rolling their arm over or swinging the willow. Injuries are common in cricket & some simple exercises can help minimise common cricket related injuries.
The Australian Sports Commission showed that there is an estimated 673,600 Australians aged over 15 that are involved in playing cricket & that’s not including the many Australians that play at the family BBQ on Australia Day.
A common type of injury in cricket are trauma injuries from getting hit by the ball either whilst batting or in the field. This results in injuries such as bruising, open wounds or fractures. Sometimes these injuries are unavoidable, but they can be reduced by wearing appropriate safety equipment such as helmets, gloves, leg pads, a box and forearm guards.
Another common type of injury which is more avoidable is the strains and sprains involved in cricket. This is usually a result of overuse of certain muscle groups from the functionality of the sport which involved frequent periods of sprinting, ball throwing/hitting and bowling broken up over 4-8 hours a day. Low back pain is also prevalent among young fast bowlers due to the repetitive action of bowling long spells which puts an excessive stress on the tissue of the lower back and can cause stress fractures to the vertebra.
These injuries can be reduced by strengthening the body to manage these loads and excessive stresses put on the body. A well developed program for cricket would include:
- Trunk stabilisation and rotational strengthening
- Dynamic mobility
- Specific strengthening (rotator cuffs, scapular stabilisers, hips and lower back strengthening)
- Technique correction to improve efficiency of movement.
- Improving anaerobic and aerobic fitness.
If you think you have sustained an injury or want to learn more about preventing these common injuries, contact our friendly team of Physiotherapists and Accredited Exercise Physiologist (AEP) at PROHEALTH PHYSIO & FITNESS are always happy to help you return to play as soon and as safely possible.
Further information:
Source: Australian Sports Commission
Title: Cricket Fact Sheet – Cricket Injuries
Read time: 2 minutes
Source: ResearchGate – Pandey, C.R., 2015. Cricket injury epidemiology, mechanisms, and prevention.
Title: Cricket Injury Epidemiology, Mechanisms, and Prevention
Read Time: 10+ minutes