Trying to change Jasprit Bumrah’s action, unless necessary, is not wise, says Andrew Leipus
India’s former physiotherapist Andrew Leipus is against the idea of trying to change Jasprit Bumrah’s action to cope with the stress fracture, unless absolutely necessary. Bumrah was advised a two-month recovery period after being ruled out of the series’ against South Africa and Bangladesh.
In his short international career, Bumrah has emerged as one of the most destructive fast bowlers in world cricket, making the #1 ODI ranking all his own and sitting at #3 among the Test bowlers’ chart. However, the 25-year-old’s career has hit a sudden halt owing to a stress fracture in his lower back. Many former cricketers and pundits have since shared their views on the matter, with West Indian legend Michael Holding suggesting that Bumrah should change his awkward bowling action to cope with the injury in the long run.
“I’m not going to debate against a legend apart from saying that from a movement science perspective, trying to change anyone’s action, especially at the peak of one’s career, is a long road without a guaranteed outcome of success, with the potential of messing things up more, loading another areas, losing pace, losing line and length (control), etc. They need to be sure it’s the action which is the primary problem before messing with that. Rule out and/or address all other factors first. This is the last resort in my opinion,” Leipus told Sportstar.
He further added the alternative options of treatment that are open for Bumrah as he undergoes a two-month recovery.
“This is his first bone stress injury that I am aware of and not an ongoing or recurrent issue at this stage. In this respect, I would be targeting any objective biomechanical impairments first. I agree that if there is a strong biomechanical issue with the action that excessively loads a certain part of the body, then measures need to be taken to ‘de-load’ that area. This can be done in a number of ways, but the easiest way might just be to address any tangible impairments such as range of joint motion, improvement in strength, improvement in control, etc,” Leipus said.
Although India will be without their #1 bowler for two home series, the management will rest knowing that they have good depth in fast bowling. However, for Bumrah himself, Leipus agrees that recovering from a major scare will prove to be a psychological challenge.
“A robust rehabilitation programme will address the psychological elements that develop because of the injury. Fear is a real emotion – fear of re-injury, fear of poor performance, fear of full execution of the action, fear of full effort, fear of losing one’s place in the team, etc., etc. Rehab pushes players both physically and mentally to the levels that they need to achieve in the competitive environment. That’s why shortcuts don’t work and rushing players back is dangerous. Coaches, captains, selectors and administrators need to trust the sports science guys (for example, the National Cricket Academy) to finish their job properly,” Leipus added.
