Valley District Cricket Club

Physiotherapy & Massage Support

Cricket Injury Coverage

PhysioWorks Northside (Ashgrove, Clayfield and Sandgate) are proud to sponsor and support the Valley District Cricket Club (VDCC). We’ve done so for the past 10 years and plan to continue to love supporting local cricket.

PhysioWorks provide sports injury coverage for all senior and junior teams. Plus, since we know and are interested in cricket, we’ll happily provide all club players and members with preferential treatment at our three Brisbane North clinics: Ashgrove, Clayfield and Sandgate,

Cricket Injury Prevention Program

Injury prevention is every player, parent, coach and physiotherapist’s goal. We have a range on offer to help reduce the risk of specific injuries; hamstring, shoulder, low back, ACL and other knee injuries. PhysioWorks has been asked to implement some of these programs following the support of VDCC senior coaches.

• Cricket Injury Risk Screening
• Injury Prevention Strategies
  • Back Stress Fracture Prevention Program
  • ACL Injury Prevention Program
  • Hamstring Injury Prevention Program

Don’t hesitate to get in touch with PhysioWorks for more information or advice.

Cricket Australia Guidelines

Cricket Australia published some guidelines surrounding fast bowling loads for adolescents. These have been designed to minimise the risk of injury.

AGE GROUP-SPECIFIC GUIDELINES

AGE GROUP
Under 11	2 over limit each spell & 4 over limit per match
Under 13	4 over limit each spell & 8 over limit per match Target* of 100-120 balls per week
Under 15	4-6 weeks bowling preparation before the season 5 over limit each spell & 12 over limit per match Target 100-120 balls per week
Under 17	6-8 weeks bowling preparation before the season 6 over maximum each spell & 16 over limit per match Target 120-150 balls per week
Under 19	8-10 weeks bowling preparation before the season 7 over limit each spell & 20 over limit per match Target 150-180 balls per week

*weekly targets are a combination of training and match bowling

Cricket Australia Personal Injuries Insurance

Australian cricket players registered at mycricket.com.au are covered for personal injuries such as sports injuries while playing cricket.

Sports Insurance Policy Information

Medical Specialist Referrals

PhysioWorks works with Brisbane’s leading Sports Medicine Professionals, including Sports Physicians, Orthopaedic Surgeons and Radiology Clinics.

Please ask your physiotherapist for help if you need guidance in discussing your situation and arranging an appropriate and prompt referral to begin your rehabilitation.

VDCC QuickLinks

For further information, please click the following links:

Common Cricket Injuries & Prevention Tips

Cricket Injury Rates

Cricket injuries at an elite level in Australia have been demonstrated to occur at a rate of around 18 injuries in total for a squad of 25 players who play twenty matches in a season.

On average, around 9% of cricketers have an injury at any given time, although in fast bowlers, over 15% are injured at any given time.

There are very different physical demands involved in various types of cricket, which has meant the injury profile is slightly different between five-day Test Matches, weekend to four-day matches and one-day matches. The launch of Twenty20 cricket has placed a new physical requirement on cricketers, although it is too early for the effects of these demands to be analysed in sports injury research.

Research has indicated that muscle injuries such as hamstring and side strains are the most common cricket injuries. These injuries are due to the functional demands of the sport, where you may repeat occasional sprinting and ball throwing across a seven-hour day.

Low back pain is particularly prevalent among younger fast bowlers. The repetitive action of bowling for long spells places excessive stress on the lower back tissues, where stress fractures of the vertebra (spondylolysis or spondylolisthesis) can develop.

Cricket Injury Prevention Strategies

The secret to avoiding a cricketing injury is to develop prevention strategies.

In short, these can relate to:

• Back & core stability control
• normal muscle length-tension ratios
• neurodynamics
• shoulder strengthening (e.g. rotator cuff & scapular stabilisers)
• technique correction
• biomechanics analysis: static and dynamic
• general aerobic and anaerobic fitness

Your coach or physiotherapist will be able to provide you with generic team activities plus some specific individual advice to address your weaknesses or deficiencies.