Head Injuries In Cricket
A pioneer in cricket coaching education for schools/colleges in the United States of America, Jatin Patel will be providing information about head injuries in cricket to all leagues/teams/players in the United States of America through cricket related sites. Patel, a graduate of Cricket Australia’s Level 2 Coach training program, and while holding administrative positions with both the American Cricket Federation and US Youth Cricket Association, will provide educational materials about head injuries in cricket – to prevent many such future injuries.
Jatin Patel with Sydni Cleckley of Ball state University.
A player’s knowledge, talent and skill status doesn’t matter when a player ends up with a concussion or a more serious head injury, mainly due to the brain being subjected to a sudden shock, jolt or impact for a moment. and which destabilizes the brain.
Players must wear protective gear according to the sports they play, to minimize the risk of suffering any fatal injury in the field, during the game or at practice. Only a few fatal incidents on the field are reported, but a large number of incidents do occur but never come to light, especially from the rural areas, where the sport is played in unorganized sectors.
Assuming all sports are risky activities is not a right concept at all, as everything we do in normal life (Including walking or sleeping) does involve some degree of risk. But it’s important to remember the health benefits that sport can give you.
Loss of Phillip Hughes of Australia after he got hit by a bouncer is shocking, and a wakeup call for the rest of the world cricketing community. Many cricket related injuries are expected to happen accidentally or in some cases due to the lack of awareness for possible nature/ cause of such injuries.
Since Body line series (English cricket team in Australia during 1932–33) before World War II. there are bowlers in the world cricket, continue to use Bodyline tactics with intention to knock the batsman out when it’s hard to get them out or some time common tactic to create fear in the batsman’s mind to create mental psychological pressure.
Playing cricket can sometimes ends up in injuries. Most of the players will only experience minor / typical injuries related to cricket. But occasionally, there are serious injuries which can put any one’s life on the edge with a life threatening high risk.
There is no way to avoid all accidental (sudden) or unintentional injuries in any sports but always it’s possible to prevent them with the injury prevention education and enough knowledge about all possibly injuries related to sport.
“Prevention should be our first concern, as not all cricket related injuries can be prevented, but you can reduce your risk of getting injured or avoiding possible cause of such injuries,” said Jatin Patel director of coaching for ACF and holds many other coaching credential in USA soccer and High school sports.
Cricket helmets are not that safe, like NFL, car racing and many other sports – even you have helmet – Concussion related injuries will happen. All of USA States and the District of Columbia had legislation to prevent concussions and to limit further injury to student athletes. Who sustain concussions, with most of these laws mandating that student athletes who experience a concussion be removed from play and obtain a health care provider’s permission before returning to play as life is more important.
Err on side of caution when dealing with any sport with head injuries, if you err on the side of caution when you are deciding what to do, you do the thing that is safe instead of taking a risk to save player’s life which can impact their families and many others involved with the cricket player.
Best thing we can do for such un invited instances is to educate cricket playing community through cricket coaching education or just awareness education for the existing players who does not have access to coaches or medical professional like physio / athletic trainer at the game site. Such life threatening injuries must be responded in quickest possible time
Jatin Patel advised that “there are few things we can have on hand at the cricket fields during practice or game.”
Use certified athletic trainers / coach when available. Who is designated person (certified Red Cross First Aid Course) from the team being responsible for assisting with Injuries.
Always ERR on the side of caution
First Aid Kit and CPR training also helps to save some one’s life during the injury situation.
Beside use of best and latest safety helmet, education related to head injuries – “concussion in sports” is very important.
There are many FREE “Concussion in Sports” courses available in USA. Following link provides information widely used in school sports in USA. Which will helps all of us to play safe. All links provides free courses.
http://nfhslearn.com/courses/38000
http://www.cdc.gov/concussion/headsup/online_training.html
http://www.nays.org/additional-training/
http://www.brainline.org/content/2010/06/free-concussion-training-for-sports-coaches_pageall.html
I will cover more details in depth about Cricket related injuries and risks involved in my upcoming book –
“A Life inside the cricket helmet” said Jatin Patel.
Jatin Patel with Sydni Cleckley, Ball state University.