Fast bowlers have a high incidence of lower back pain and lower extremity injuries. In particular, significant disc degeneration and stress fractures of the lumbar spine are frequently reported in an adolescent population of fast bowlers.
Many factors have been associated with the aetiology of lower back pain. These include, but are not limited to, bowling biomechanics, overbowling, age and physical preparation. The injury is most likely a complex interaction of a number of these variables.
Monitoring workload is therefore a practise that is strongly recommended. CSA have guidelines for the recommended number of overs to be bowled by young adolescent cricketers.
However, individual monitoring of load is critical as there is variation amongst fast bowlers in their capacity to deal with load. In addition, young cricketers frequently play for a number of different teams (school, club, representative) and the cumulative number of balls bowled for the different teams is frequently overlooked.
CSA has developed a logbook app which can be downloaded onto a fast bowler’s smartphone and is a quick and easy method for fast bowlers to log their overs bowled on a daily basis.
In this way a player will become more aware of their workload, be able to identify spikes in load and begin to identify their body’s capacity to deal with load.
In addition, this information can be sent to the player’s coach and/or physiotherapist/biokineticist to assist with monitoring bowling workload.
Download the logbook app for either android or apple smart phones:
Android: https://www.peformaxcsa.co.za/logbook_Android/
iOS: https://www.peformaxcsa.co.za/logbook_IOS/