University of Canterbury. New-Zealand: While 14 teams take part in the 11th Cricket World Cup
starting in Christchurch next week, a University of Canterbury
researcher will be investigating why fast bowlers suffer so many
injuries. Sports physio and PhD student Sibi Boycott Walter, from Chennai in
India, is leading a study on shoulder injuries among New Zealand pace
bowlers. His cricket research is being supervised by University of
Canterbury sports scientist Dr Carl Petersen, who has worked with elite
cricket teams in Australia and England.
Walter’s study will explore the number of New Zealand pace bowlers
who have been injured and how long the injuries have kept them out of
the game. Later on, he will compare shoulder strengthening regimes of
pace bowlers and competitive swimmers.
Dr Petersen, who focuses on cricket technology research and has
produced a cricket app, recently discussed his own research with World
Cup ambassador Sir Richard Hadlee on the University's campus.
Walter says studies on injuries in New Zealand cricket are scarce and
there is scant information available on injury incidence reports of
cricketers and Black Caps’ pace bowlers.
His research will help New Zealand Cricket understand more about the
work overload on the shoulders of pace bowlers, help formulate an
effective strengthening programme to avoid shoulder injuries and reduce
the number of shoulder injury recurrences among New Zealand bowlers.
“It could also educate young aspiring New Zealand bowlers about the
pitfalls of overtraining and establish a formulated strengthening
programme to help extend their bowling careers,” Walter says.
“Lumbar stress fractures, hamstring and thigh muscle strains have had
the highest incidence of injuries among New Zealand pace bowlers. The
shoulder area is the most pivotal of all anatomical areas for pace
bowlers.
“Low back pain has haunted quick bowlers all over the cricket world
and New Zealand bowlers are no exception. One of the main risk factors
for low back pain is excessive shoulder counter-rotation and
hyperextension occurring during the mixed action which increases the
stress on the intervertebral disc.
“Data I have collected shows 49 percent of all injuries are sustained while players are bowling."
Between 2002 and 2008 the Black Caps had more injury prevalence in international tournaments compared to domestic tournaments.
“Pace bowlers had the highest injury prevalence rate (18.7 percent)
followed by spin bowlers (5.5 percent), batsmen (5.4 percent) and
wicketkeepers (3.8 percent). The low back (22.1 percent), knee (20.1
percent) and shoulder (10.9 percent) were the most severe of the
injuries suffered by the New Zealand cricket team in international
matches.
“As the international cricket calendar has become full due to the
popularity of T20 and one day games, pace bowlers are continuously in
demand due to the intense nature of these games. Potential rule changes
for the shorter games should be considered allowing twelfth man
substitutions to demonstrate their potential effectiveness in
alleviating volume overload among the pace bowlers.”