common injuries of cricket

Cricket is one of the hardest and longest sports to play. Many people think that it is similar to baseball. It is. However, forget your definition of the words pitch, bat, etc. Cricket is often played in South Asia, England (I would know a lot more about cricket if the American Revolution wasn't won by the colonies), Wales, Australia, South Africa, and the West Indies. There are 2 teams with 11 players on each team. Some players are a specialist batsman (the person who bats the ball so it doesn't hit the wicket) or bowler (the person who throws the ball so it passes the batsman and hits the wicket). Someone who is good at both batting and bowling is referred as an "all-rounder". The field is oval-shaped, and in the center is a rectangular strip called the pitch. There is a batsman on each end of the strip. One of them is active, the other is inactive. The bowler stands next to the inactive batsman and pitches to the active batsman. The batsman hits the ball, and both batsman switch places. They must switch before the players in the field throw the ball to hit the wicket, or the other team gets a point. However, if both batsman get to the other side in time, then their team gets a point. This is a very long game; each inning lasts 6 hours! The bat is like a wooden paddle; it is flat (don't use it too cook pizza though, or you'll have a tomato sauce plastered bat, and a pizza full of dirt!). If you have a lot of endurance, and you like games similar to baseball, you will love cricket! I would put more of the rules, but this would be a novel, not an introduction!

Common Injuries

Cricket injuries can occur among amateurs and professionals. The most common cricket injuries are sprains, fractures, and bruising.
Direct contact injuries, such as a blow to the face hand from a ball traveling at a high speed, are the most common type of cricket injuries. These blows can cause fractures and severe bruising.
Injuries to the teeth and jaw can occur when a ball hits the face. These injuries can be severe if a mouth guard isn’t worn.
Adult cricketers mostly get injuries to the upper limbs, followed by injuries o the lower limbs and the head. For children, the most common injury site is the head and face, followed by the fingers and hands.

Overuse injuries are also common. Fast bowlers often suffer overuse injuries in the lower back region. This is caused by repeated stress to this area of the spine during the bowling action.

Nowadays, athletes are expected to train longer, harder, and earlier in life to excel in their chosen sport.
Bowling has been found to be the major cause of cricket injuries. Spondylolysis is often encountered in Australian fast bowlers playing first class cricket. Stress fractures at other sites are common in fast bowlers and occur primarily in the metatarsal bones, the fibula, and the tibia.

Prevention

1. always warm up and stretch
2. make sure you have properly fitted equipment (leg guards, batting gloves, batting helmets with face guard, forearm guards, and wicket-keeping gloves with inners and boxes)
3. suitable and properly fitted footwear should be worn
4. wear protective gear during practice as well, not just during formal play
5. have physical training before the start of the season
6. make sure you have proper instruction on how to do skills (ex. bowling)
7. have good sportsmanship, just have fun
8. have a first aid kit on hand and be able to use it for minor injuries
9. have a way to reach medical personnel in case of emergency situations