Cricket Fast Bowling and the Lumbar Spine | Dr Pete Alway

Lecture 5 of the #ScienceOfCricket series. Dr Pete Alway discusses lumbar spine bone adaptation and risk factors to lumbar bone stress injury in elite cricket fast bowlers. Topics include how the lumbar spine responds to cricket fast bowling, the technique factors driving this adaptation, the permanency of adaptations, epidemiology of lumbar bone stress injuries, and biomechanical technique factors associated with lumbar bone stress injuries in cricket fast bowling.

00:00 The science of cricket
00:15 Cricket fast bowling and the lumbar spine
00:59 The structure of bone
03:31 Bone adaptation to physical activity
09:02 Cricket fast bowling
11:11 How does the lumbar spine respond to cricket fast bowling?
15:21 How does lumbar bone adaptation change with bowler age?
18:22 What technique factors drive lumbar bone adaptation in cricket fast bowling?
19:34 Is the asymmetric adaptation permanent (e.g. injury/off-season)?
23:28 What are lumbar bone stress injuries?
25:16 Epidemiology of injury in cricket
27:33 What are the risk factors to lumbar bone stress injury in cricket fast bowling?
32:14 How to prevent lumbar bone stress injury in cricket fast bowling (including workload)
37:30 Biomechanics (technique) and lumbar bone stress injury in cricket fast bowling

Studies mentioned:

[stanleydsouza]

Simply superb, a big shout out to all involved.

[jeremywansbrough]

this is so valuable, no idea how it only has 2.8k views

[shahzadpirani]

The information you provide was marvelous and really really informative as I myself and my friends play cricket on daily basis also if you can make a video explaining the workload and injuries explained on the volleyball players it would be great!

[stephandreyer]

Wow Pete, that is some amazing research! Well done! I had a stress fracture about 11 years ago (I was 17) and had to completely stop playing the sport I love so dearly. I was put on a rehab program (which involved a lot of swimming) and had to also stop playing golf and tennis at the time. After about a year of no playing I went back and started feeling my back again immediately in the first practice session, so had to stop for good. Over the past 10 years I've gotten considerably stronger and probably gained quite a bit of bone density. I want to start playing again - do you think the chances are lower for the injury now that I'm 28 and it has healed properly? What advice would you give if I had to start bowling now?

[joemurray]

This is some really interesting content and very helpful as an S&C coach trying to put together a programme for schoolboy cricketers that meets the needs of their sport. I am curious to know how coaches respond to your research findings; do you find they are willing to change their methods to managing bowling workload, or do you have some that follow the mantra of "we've always done it this way"?

[markappleford]

Thanks for the presentation. Some great information. Just wondering how periods of rapid growth for young bowlers (15 to 18) fit with what you've shown. We've been told that this is a significant risk factor for young bowlers, and look to reduce their workload if they are experiencing growth spurts. Are we on the right track there?

[adamsiddiqui]

Sir i have got grade 1anterolisthesis so can i continue fast bowling