Epidemiology of Sports-related Musculoskeletal Injuries Common in Men’s Domestic Cricket: An Analytical Cross-sectional Study Based on Sports Fields

Despite gaining the popularity of cricket in Bangladesh, raising the competition frequency causes more injury to the athletes. Even after that, they have yet to develop an injury incidence surveillance system. The aim of this study was to determine the incidence of musculoskeletal injuries and related risk factors that elite domestic cricketer sustains during the game. 

A cross-sectional study was conducted in Dhaka, Bangladesh. A total of 198 cricketers with age 15-35 years were purposively adopted for an interview played at least three sessions for the divisional clubs. Participants completed a self-reported questionnaire probing the incidence of injury and risk factors. Binary regression analysis was performed to investigate the correlation of strain injury with other characteristics. 

 Participants had the highest sustained 42.4% strain injury. A rate of 42.9% (P=0.00) was reported for risk factors of strain injury in running but excluding body mass index and ground condition initially. There were no significant differences in strain incidence based on the match, protective equipment, and playing position. Age (odd ration (OR): 0.877, 95% confidence interval(CI): 0.441-1.743), body mass index (OR: 0.268, 95% CI: 0.037-1.960), batsman (OR: 0.376, 95% CI: 0.183-0.770), upper extremity (OR: 6.428, 95% CI: 1.483-27.861) and hard ground (OR: 0.005, 95% CI: 0.001-0.022) were identified as the major risk factors, and the PRICE protocol was proved to be the best physical therapy method to remain in the game. 

 In matches, the batsman is most likely to sustain a strain injury mostly to the upper limb. There is no enough evidence to conclude that the injury monitoring system plays a big role, and therefore more study is much needed in cricket.