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    Why do young cricketers suffer low back pain?

    With a domestic cricket season well and truly underway which will see a number of young budding fast bowlers take to the field I thought it would be appropriate to touch on the potential contributing factors for the development of low back pain in young fast bowlers. This has been a highly debated topic over the last 1-2 years with the seemingly increased rate of low back injuries in our up and coming Australian fast bowlers including Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and James Pattinson.

    The most common lower back injury suffered by fast bowlers are lumbar bone stress injuries. Bone stress injuries result when localised strain and loading placed on the lumbar vertebrae exceeds the strength of the bone. This often occurs with fast bowling which requires forceful and repeated actions of bending, side bending and twisting.

    In the literature there have been three well documented factors that are believed to contribute to bone stress injuries in fast bowlers. These factors are bowling technique, bowling workload and age.

    Workload: High cumulative amounts of deliveries bowled throughout trainings, matches and entire seasons have been shown to increase the prevalence of lumbar spine injuries in fast bowlers. In addition atypical spikes in workloads where a player may have bowled significantly more on one particular day has also been seen to result in increased injury prevalence 21-28 days following this time. It is believed that bone needs time to adapt once it has been loaded and therefore bone stress tends to occur when adequate adaptation has not been allowed.

     

    Age: In an injury surveillance study conducted by Cricket Australia lumbar stress injuries were shown to have the lowest mean age of injury onset (24 years) of all injuries suffered in the sample.  Ossification or maturation of the lumbar spine is not fully completed until 20-25 years of age. This is suggested to make the bone less able to absorb forces and more susceptible to failure before the age of 25 years.

     

    This may therefore partly explain the recent injuries to Australia’s current fast bowlers as the Australian teams have had to rely on their younger fast bowlers including Pat Cummins (21), Mitchell Starc (24) and James Pattinson (24) to shoulder a higher percentage of the workload than Australian teams have had to in the past. This also underlines the apparent increased injury prevalence for Australian player’s currently compared to other countries such as England (James Anderson (31), Stuart Broad (28)) and South Africa (Dale Steyn (31), Vernon Philander (29)) whose spearhead bowlers are much older in age.

    Jay Scott-Hunter


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    Last week our team celebrated another great year. 

Whilst Melbourne’s weather had its own plans, we were still determined to keep with the theme of ‘Italian Summer’. We let our hair down to master the art of mixology 🍸🍹followed by an Italian feast. Friday morning Run Club with the team. Practicing what we preach!

Staying stronger, healthier and happier. This time last week, our team was nervously completing their final preparations for @melbmara . 

Congratulations to our physiotherapists and ME community who ran on the day.

Dilen and Michael completed their first marathons. Abbey and Lizzie smashed out their first half. Last Sunday, our team headed down to see our own Matt Warren win a premiership in the VAFA Premier Men’s Competition. Last week our team dedicated a full day to professional development and team building. At ME Physio we pride ourselves on collaboration to put you at the centre of everything we do. 

Our team covered the latest treatments for back pain, financial well-being and finished off the day with salsa dancing. 

Many thanks to our guests including James Schomburgk from @the2ndvisitphysio , Financial Planners Tony Vikram & Cameron Bishop and the @salsafoundation At ME Physio, our focus is on helping you get stronger so that you can keep doing the things you love.

For Tony and Joan, healthier and stronger is being able to navigate the iconic Coast to Coast Walk in the UK! We recently had the pleasure of hosting Elise Bujor from Women’s & Men’s Health Physiotherapy to discuss women’s health issues across the lifespan. 

Our team pride themselves on staying up to date to ensure you’re able to stay healthier, happier and stronger. Huge milestones over the past few weeks with both Tom and Jude from @delasallefc doing their first bit of running in their rehab. 

Tom is on the return from an ankle dislocation whilst Jude is putting in the hard work following a knee reconstruction. Last week our team enjoyed some friendly rivalry at the footy. 

With finals around the corner, some of our team can now safely make holidays plans for September. We recently had the pleasure of hosting the podiatry team from @sespodiatry. 

Our physiotherapists Michael and Abbey presented on rehabilitation following Achilles surgical repair and ankle surgery. Last weekend some of our team got together to complete the 10 km run @runmelbourne. There was no finish line picture as some were keen to run another 15 km!

Whilst running wasn’t for some - brunch was well received by everyone. Shoulder impingement can be incredibly frustrating and painful. 

Tony has been working closely with our physiotherapists Vernon and Dilen to get on top of his shoulder pain. His treatment plan has included hands-on physiotherapy and individualised exercises in our hydrotherapy and strength programs.

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