Back pain from cricket (bowling)

Hello, i am a fifteen year old who plays cricket a lot, normally bowling. I have recently in the past few months been feeling a sharp pain at the right hand side of my lumbar spine. I had an x-ray on it and nothing came up but sometimes the pain can be quite harsh when moving in some positions, like getting up down, bending etc.

The doctor told me i might have a torn muscle but i am not so sure to be honest. Does anyone else have any similar info or help.
He referred me to physio but due to it being Christmas time no reply about receiving physiotherapy yet, anyone know any good exercises you think i may be able to do?

I am a fast left arm bowler and do this a lot, there must be a link between bowling and the injury.

Thank you, help needed please.

First thing is to stop bowling now, really STOP. get to a good local sports Physio who does get involved in cricket. This is a very common problem in young fast bowlers and has ruined many a career. I'll dig up an article on this and past it into this post shortly. But you need a thorough investigation and a very well structure and planned approach to your rehab.

Here's a useful article to take to the physio when you see them. Perhaps have a read yourself

Lumbar Spondylolysis in Young Fast Bowlers
by Caryl Becker, MCSP

Login and click on the attachment below to open the full pdf version of this article
Date written: Oct 2006 Published in: sportEX medicine

Intro begins: A study by Hollenberg (1) showed that in up to 47% of adolescents with lower back pain, a pars interarticularis fracture was reported. In another study by Gregory et al (2) it was reported that the incidence of injuries in young fast bowlers was 0.165/1000 balls bowled, in comparison with 0.066/1000 in spin bowlers. In the fast bowling group, 17.6% of these were lower back injuries.

Yes some of the things are true in the article, but i do not have a mixed action and have had an x-ray which has come back with nothing wrong. My doctor says it may be a torn muscle,
could he be wrong?
It is gettingbetter now i believe and after 2 months of rest i believe the pain when i bowl now is easing as in before i bowled and could barely stand up without a sharp pain in my lower right hand side of the lumbar.

thankyou for your help

Small fractures don't always show on x-ray and often don't show on x-ray especially in this type of problem. Stress fractures, spondylitis etc. won't show at all on x-ray. These need more investigation like a bone scan or MRI

On late stage ones will show. You, your coach and your sports physio need to take a look at your action and especially you follow-through to see what's going on. Not that rest makes a lot of things seem better but their cause remains. Best to look at the reasons why now if you are serious about developing cricket to higher levels. Good luck

yes, thankyou for your help, my action has been checked half way though last season by a level 3 coach and he says it is normal, i will wait for the physio to tell me his opinion and exercises,
thankyou for your help

Hi Micheal,

If you back pain has not improved much, you might want to try physiotherapists who practise Mckenzie Technique with/ without Mulligan techniques. They tend to work well with lower back pain. You can find Mckenzie practioner in your country via searching Mckenzie institute- look for practioners in your country. I hope this might help.

HI Michael,

I hope your pain is getting better and you are getting back to your bowling. It is good that your basic bowling action is not mixed.

You may still have had a stress fracture even if it was not shown on the x-ray. They often don't, even with an oblique view as suggested in the text books. Having a mixed action is not the only risk factor one may have. The injury can be related to amount of bowling you do, the types of surfaces you play on and your own intrinsic susceptibility to stress fracture.

But a period of rest and gradual return to bowling is the treatment anyway. For young fast bowlers it is suggested that no more than 7 over spells are bowled. You could possibly apply this principle to your practice sessions as you recover. It may even be a good idea to implement while your body matures and gains the strength and resilience needed to bowl longer spells.

It may also be that some general strengthening would beneficial as well.

Hi

I'm all for thorough investigation in your situation. I'd check that the xray included oblique views. An oblique view is more likely to pick up the stress fracture that other physios have mentioned here. Standard xrays don't usually include an oblique view unless specifically asked. I'd also opt for an MRI aswell. A missed stress fracture could cause you more problems further down the track.