Low back pain and front foot hip joint kinematics in Western Province first league fast bowlers

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Aim: The aim of the study was to improve understanding of the hip joint kinematics in cricketfast bowlers and to ascertain whether a relationship exists between hip joint biomechanicalparameters, including kinematics, ROM characteristics and lumbar symptoms.Study design: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted.Participants: Sixteen adult male fast bowlers between the ages of 18 and 40 years old, playingfirst-club league, were featured in the study.Main outcome measures: To obtain data with regards to the training history, as well as thenature of lumbar-spine symptoms experienced by the cricket fast bowlers, a newly designedquestionnaire was compiled. For analysis of the front foot hip joint ROM and kinematics, thebiomechanical equipment used included: a two-dimensional Canon MV950 Digital VideoCamcorder, a Kodak EasyShare C310 camera and XSENS Motion Tracking equipment (XsensTechnologies B. V., Enschede, Netherlands).Results: Eight of the sixteen bowlers in our study experienced LBP in the season with seven ofthese bowlers presenting with recent symptoms most of which are experienced after bowling aspell and described as 'tightness or a 'stabbing pain in the lower back. Intensity of LBPranged between 1/10 to 8/10.Front foot hip joint kinematics of fast bowlers showed highly individualised patterns ofmovement between different subjects. Medium amplitude movements in the flexion/extensionas well as the rotation plane of movement showed a significant difference in bowlers with- andwithout LBP.No significant differences between groups with LBP and without LBP were found in the threepassive hip ROM measurements.Conclusions: It has proved to be very difficult to improve the understanding of the front foot hipbiomechanics in cricket fast bowlers due to the high inter-subject variability. Variability inmovement patterns remains under-researched by sports biomechanics.Although decreased hip mobility could alter mechanical forces transmitted to the lumbar spineand therefore predispose or be a causative factor in LBP development, this study found nosignificant relation between these parameters. The sample size was very small in this studywhich will influence the validity of results.Our study confirmed the high incidence of LBP and preventative efforts for bowlers shouldtherefore be strongly supported.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University