Strength and Conditioning Blog “ July 2021

Earlier in the year, Leicestershire County Cricket Club announced that the global business, Good Energies, joined as a new official partner for the 2021 season.

The new partnership has seen the B-Cure products used by the Running Foxes’ Strength and Conditioning team.

As part of the partnership, the coaching staff at LCCC are producing a monthly blog to detail how they incorporate the clinically proven, laser-powered pain relief device into their conditioning programmes, whilst also offering help and guidance to club cricketers.

Welcome on board - B-Cure Laser

At the time of writing, we are rapidly approaching the halfway stage of the 2021 season, so our work as a Sports Science and Medicine team is pretty flat out. At this point the schedule for the players is fairly simple: eat, play cricket, sleep, recover, repeat. With this in mind, we are extra thankful for any support we can give to the players, which is why we were thrilled when we started working with B-Cure Laser and their products.

Although we have only been using the B-Cure Laser for a short time, we have already started to see the benefits of the technology. As a small series of case studies, we have seen benefits, in particular, for players with hand injuries.

During the white ball matches, which is what we’ve been playing heavily over the past few weeks with the T20 Vitality Blast season, I’m still amazed at the lengths the players will go to in order to get a hand to the ball in the field. Naturally, this takes its toll “ at least one player will come off the field at the end of play with some swelling or bruising to their hands “ an occupational hazard you might say!

We have been able to use the B-Cure Laser to help with swelling and pain reduction on the hand injuries, and the early player feedback so far has been very promising. The portable nature of the device has meant we have been able to keep on top of any hand swelling early. The players are also able to take the device home and use it on the move between games, which has so far proven invaluable.

As the season continues, we look forward to building on the use of the B-Cure Laser further.

Advice for Club Cricketers

As part of the partnership with B-Cure, we’ll be passing on some advice to club cricketers on recovering from injury and preparing/recovering from games. I think a good place to start is an area that can be often overlooked in club cricket “ the value of warm-ups.

I think the value of warm-ups is well known to anyone that plays sport, but knowing and doing are two different things! Naturally, what you need as a warm-up from an individual viewpoint will depend on your role within a team. To keep it simple, before play have a short think about your role within that team and the demands it will place on your body.

For example, as a seam bowler you will be placing a large amount of force through your body at speed. Therefore, your warm-up should reflect this, looking at mobility work for back, hips, and shoulders, as well as doing some sprints of gradual intensity.

Having some build-up overs either in nets or on a spare wicket is also a great way to warm up, while a small investment in an exercise band to help your shoulders loosen up for throwing and bowling is worthwhile. Warm-ups don’t need to be long or complicated but they make a huge difference in your preparation for a game and reducing your risk of picking up an injury.

Ryan Smith

Assistant Physiotherapist