Injuries, Conditioning and W.I Cricket

The lack of conditioning and injuries have been a "hot button" topic in West Indies cricket for several years. There have been several commentaries and opinions expressed and now I am joining the fray.

This commentary will be from a purely technical perspective, my background being a Corrective and Performance Enhancement Exercise Specialist. The commentary will include the process of developing conditioning and reconditioning programs for cricketers and my personal experience with West Indian Test players and regional players, particularly the ones I have interacted with from Guyana.

The first and probably the most important step in the conditioning/reconditioning process is the assessment/evaluation of the player. The evaluation of the Kinetic Chain (Human Body) consists of the following areas:

1. History of Injury
2. Exercise History
3. Posture and Gait
4. Muscle Length/Tension
5. Muscle Testing
6. Joint Range of Motion
7. Joint Stability
8. Functional Movement Patterns
9. Core Stability
10. Biomotor ability testing
11. Nutrition and Lifestyle
12. Biomechanical Analysis

This evaluation will allow the exercise specialist to address the etiology of an injury or dysfunction in the kinetic chain when designing the exercise program. For example a fast bowler is suffering from back pain can be a result of a dysfunction at the foot, hips, cervical spine. It could also be poor biomechanics or kinetic chain dysfunction causing poor biomechanics.

Back pain can also be caused by poor nutrition and lifestyle factors such as stress, poor exercise techniques and visceral problems. Thus, there are several sources for lumbar spine dysfunction that need to corrected in other parts of the kinetic chain along with the lumbar spine and its associated structures. This is significant because most therapists are only interested in removing the pain and not getting to the root cause, thus players continue to suffer recurrent injuries.

This leads to the question; do West Indian players undergo comprehensive evaluations that are taken into account in designing exercise programs?

Program design is the next step in the conditioning/reconditioning process. Exercise programming should follow the periodisation continuum of Flexibilty - Stability - Strength -Power. West Indian players are playing 12-16 tests and 20-30 ODIs a year, therefore a conditioning coach is presented a challenge to get and keep the players in peak condition with the short breaks in between series.

This is where the four month lay-off the players had prior to the current series and those to follow was so invaluable. I told everyone I could tell during the last series against Australia that the upcoming four month break was crucial.

Another factor in exercise programming is the choice of exercises or philosophy behind those choices. Exercises should be chosen to integrate the whole body, thus improve function. The factors in exercise choice to improve the function of the player are the following:

1. Flexibility

2. Maintenance of Center of gravity e.g. Squatting versus leg press

3. Generalized Motor Program development e.g. Cable Push is similar to throwing

4. Selection of open chained versus closed chained exercises e.g. cricket is played in an open chain in the upper body, thus chin-ups a closed chain upper body exercise have no relevance in enhancing cricket performance.

5. Promotion of Good Posture

6. Reflex profile development.

7. Energy system development e.g. cricket is an anaerobic sport thus aerobic activities such as long distance running should not play a significant role in the conditioning process.

8. Biomotor ability enhancement e.g. focus on weaker biomotor abilities, thus you have a better conditioned athlete.

I had the opportunity to analyse a former West Indian fast bowler's exercise program given to him by the current trainer and I used the above criteria and it was found wanting. The exercise program did not address his injury history and it looked like the trainer was training him for a bodybuilding contest and not developing a better athlete.

I have seen members of the present West Indies team train in the gym and I was not surprised as to why we have so many players breaking down. Their poor exercise programs are part of the reason for this injury crisis.

Finally, the lack of a culture of fitness among West Indian cricketers can be addressed in the following ways:

1. Identify or develop proper training facilities in every territory.

2. Hire competent personnel to implement and maintain conditioning programs from school to Test cricket.