Electromyography analysis of shoulder and wrist muscles in semi-professional cricket fast bowlers during bouncer and yorker delivery. A cross-sectional comparative study

Background & Objective: Cricket is one of the most popular sports, played in many countries. However due to aggressive in nature it could be more prone for risk of injuries to shoulder and wrist in fast bowlers. Thus the purpose of the study was to determine the EMG activity of shoulder and wrist injuries in fast bowlers while bowling ‘Bouncer’ and ‘Yorker ‘deliveries. Method: A total of 17 healthy participants including 15 righthanded and 2 left handed fast-medium bowlers were recruited study under the purposive sampling method (n = 15, age = 27.3± 5.2 years, height = 173.1 ± 6.8 cm and weight = 75.1 ± 7.8 kg). High speed camera (EXILM CASIO-EX-FH 25) was used to synchronized with EMG device (modelm 320RX, 5VDC/1A/5W, myon AG Switzerland). Result: A significant difference in RMS was found in shoulder and wrist muscles while bowling bouncer and Yorker in first and second phase with p value of 0.0 and 0.05 respectively. Freidman’s test was used to yield the following result. Conclusion: Based on the inferential statistics, cricket bowlers are highly exposed to risk of shoulder and wrist injuries. Yorker deliveries can lead to higher wrist injuries compared to shoulder injuries while bowling Bouncers.