On April 18, Mr. Vishal Yadav from Female Cricket, had a tête-à-tête with Ms. Anuja Dalvi, former Sports Physiotherapist at Mumbai Cricket Association and physio of Bangladesh women’s cricket team, wherein they discussed cricket, injuries related to the sport, and ways to prevent and cure them.
We go #Instagram LIVE tomorrow with Anuja Dalvi, an accredited physiotherapist from National Cricket Academy.
Anuja has worked with the Indian & Bangladesh Women’s Cricket team.
Have any questions related to injury or scope in this profession? Come & get it answered tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/u5hoJHhAgu
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) April 17, 2020
“Cricket is a unique sport which also happens to be a non-contact sport. Therefore, the injuries that the players suffer from are different compared to other contact sports, say like, football and kabaddi,” averred Ms Anuja.
Talking about some of the common cricket injuries that especially women cricketers suffer with are ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) injury and ligament laxity Ms. Dalvi mentioned. “Due to ligament laxity, ankle sprains and knee injuries are common among women cricketers,” she stated. She further added. “In cricket, most of the injuries are can be classified as overuse and technique based injuries. Overuse injuries happen when a particular muscle or a joint is used more than its ideal capacity while technique based injuries are idiosyncratic to the role of the player in the team, namely, batter, bowler, or wicket-keeper.”
With the rise of T20 cricket, the game has become more intense and competitive. In order to meet the requirements of the sport, the players have to put in that extra yard.
“These days the players undergo a lot of training, be it gym training or net practice. Since they spend more time on keeping themselves fit and getting their techniques right, injuries seem to be inevitable,” she elucidated.
In order to prevent injuries or cure them if they have already happened, the physios strive to do the best for the players. Ms. Dalvi explicated, “Before the start of the season, we have a screening process wherein we make a note of the history of players’ injuries, observe the patterns, and work on finding the best possible solution. For instance, fast bowlers are prone to spine injuries, so the role of physio is to find out the root cause, whether it is the faulty action or bowling overload that is causing the problem. Once the root cause is known, depending on the player’s age, treatment is designed to get her back in shape.”
Cricket is a game where there are different departments (bowling, batting, fielding), environmental factors, and ground conditions. So it is important that the players train well and practice appropriately to avert any kind of injuries. “Maintaining proper nutrition and hydration levels during the game as well as before/after the game are of paramount importance,” Ms Anuja Dalvi concluded.
You can watch the entire episode on our YouTube channel. Click here
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