Side strains

Side strains are an injury almost unique to bowlers in cricket, particularly fast bowlers. The only other athletic participants who also regularly strain the side abdominal muscles are javelin throwers. In bowlers they occur on the non-bowling side of the body and the majority are strains of abdominal muscle insertions on to the lower ribs. Bony stress lesions (such as stress fractures of the 10th or 11th ribs) can occur. There is a traditional belief that a side strain is almost a ‘rite of passage' for an elite fast bowler that is almost certain to occur once early in his playing career and is thereafter unlikely to return. However there are cases of recurrent side strains which plague bowlers throughout their career. Because of the relative lack of recur rence (compared to other muscle strains), some doctors treat side strains aggressively with cortisone and local anaesthetic injections.

Side strains are strongly related to bowling speed, with the fastest bowlers much more likely to suffer this type of injury. Although a common injury in fast bowlers, the pathology in side strains is not well understood. There are probably multiple types of side strain, with various sub-types having different risk factors and prognosis.

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