Correlation between Shoulder External -Internal Strength Ratio and Throwing Accuracy of the Dominant Arm in Recreational cricketers: An Observational Study.

The structural integrity of the shoulder is severely strained by the regular high-velocity throwing and bowling essential for cricket.

As per evidence, the percentage of sports injuries that affect a cricket player’s shoulder ranges from 5% to 23%. Imbalance between the shoulder’s internal and external rotator muscles is thought to have a role in shoulder injuries among overhead athletes because the rotator cuff muscles provide dynamic stability to the shoulder joint.The Rotator cuff muscles are an important component of the kinetic chain involved in overhead throwing.

The shoulder internal rotators (IR) contract concentrically to accelerate the arm as a cricketer releases the ball. The external rotators (ER) contract eccentrically to decelerate and regulate the speeding arm . A greater relative strength of the shoulder IRs in comparison to that of ERs would compromise the deceleration capability of the ERs. The strength balance between the external and internal rotator muscles (ER: IR ratio) typically ranges from 66% to 75% in cricketers.However, external-rotator strength tends to decrease and internal-rotator strength tends to increase in the dominant shoulder with repetitive overhead activities.

This biomechanical imbalance can lead to decrease in the subacromial space by migration of the humeral head, ultimately leading to impingement of the rotator cuff tendon. Therefore, objective assessment of external rotator functional strength in comparison to internal rotator functional strength is crucial for injury prevention and rehabilitation.

Currently, there is an increase in emphasis on skillful fielding predominantly efficient throwing in the game of cricket for successful performance.Throwing is a vital aspect in fielding where the fielders must throw the ball with great speed and accuracy from any part of the field to dismiss a batsman and prevent the opposition from scoring runs for having a successful game.The shoulder rotators play an important role in this throwing action, acting as part of the kinetic chain involved in throwing. The strength of these muscles plays a role in skillful throwing.

The IR:ER isometric strength ratio may play a role in effective throwing in cricketers.Not many articles have focused on the strength ratio and its relation with the throwing accuracy, as a result there is a dearth of literature in this topic and hence more research needs to be done.