Effects of lockdown on bowlers may be playing part in spate of stress fractures

The after effects of the coronavirus lockdown could be a contributing factor to the spate of stress fractures among England bowlers, according to an ECB research specialist.

In the past week Jofra Archer, Saqib Mahmood and Matthew Fisher have all been ruled out for the season with lower back injuries, while the likes of Olly Stone, Sam Curran and Tom Curran are all on the way back after succumbing to the problem.

Each individual case carries its own specifics, but the cluster of breakdowns is a major cause for concern for the national side.

Incidences had been trending downwards for several years until the recent dramatic spike and Dr Peter Alway, research and operations manager at the England and Wales Cricket Board with a PhD in the field of lumbar stress fractures, believes the the sudden interruption of the pandemic could be part of the reason.

“Covid lockdowns deconditioned bowlers a considerable amount. It could be a contributing factor,” Alway told the PA news agency.

“There was a time in lockdown where I saw videos of some very tall fast bowlers bowling against their walls in London flats.

“Our research shows that when players get stress fractures in the first six to eight weeks where they are inactive or doing low cardio, they lose three to five per cent of their lumbar bone density. Any time you take away the stimulus of fast bowling on the spine, you have the same effect.

We had been seeing some really promising trends up to last season, but what's happened over the last few weeks has blown our numbers up.- Dr Pete Alway

“We had been seeing some really promising trends up to last season, but what’s happened over the last few weeks has blown our numbers up.”

“That number may not seem like a lot but the rate of