A review of cricket injuries and the effectiveness of strategies to prevent cricket injuries at all levels

Abstract

Objective. This review evaluates the scientific research on cricket injuries, including long-term injury surveillance studies, the consensus statement paper for injury surveillance, specific counter-measures to reduce the risk of cricket injuries and finally identifies areas of future concern. Results. The literature shows that three major cricketplaying countries, Australia, England and South Africa, have collected long-term injury data. While these sets of data show definite trends, it was not always possible to make direct comparisons between data collected in various countries. As a result a consensus statement paper with regards to definitions and methods to calculate injury rates, incidence and prevalence was developed. The first study using this newly accepted injury surveillance method showed injury patterns in West Indies domestic and national cricket teams. There have been three primary studies carried out with regards to interventions aimed at reducing the risk of injury to fast bowlers. These included a coaching interventions programme, the use of a bowling aid in an attempt to modify bowling technique and a study that evaluated the recommended bowling workloads in young cricketers. The implications of the changes to the laws relating to the bowling action and the increased usage of the sliding stop in fielding are reviewed. Conclusion. From the review it is evident that there is a need to continue with injury surveillance, as well as a need to continue with and increase the number of studies that evaluate the efficacy of intervention strategies in order to reduce the risk of injury to cricketers.

South African Journal of Sports Medicine Vol. 19 (5) 2007: pp. 129-132