Post on 23-Dec-2016
SCIENTIFIC PAPER
Surface electromyographic analysis of the biceps brachii muscleof cricket bowlers during bowling
Nizam Uddin Ahamed • Kenneth Sundaraj •
Badlishah Ahmad • Matiur Rahman •
Md. Asraf Ali • Md. Anamul Islam
Received: 24 April 2013 / Accepted: 18 January 2014
� Australasian College of Physical Scientists and Engineers in Medicine 2014
Abstract Cricket bowling generates forces with torques
on the upper limb muscles and makes the biceps brachii
(BB) muscle vulnerable to overuse injury. The aim of this
study was to investigate whether there are differences in
the amplitude of the EMG signal of the BB muscle during
fast and spin delivery, during the seven phases of both
types of bowling and the kinesiological interpretation of
the bowling arm for muscle contraction mechanisms during
bowling. A group of 16 male amateur bowlers participated
in this study, among them 8 fast bowlers (FB) and 8 spin
bowlers (SB). The root mean square (EMGRMS), the
average sEMG (EMGAVG), the maximum peak amplitude
(EMGpeak), and the variability of the signal were calculated
using the coefficient of variance (EMGCV) from the BB
muscle of each bowler (FB and SB) during each bowling
phase. The results demonstrate that, (i) the BB muscle is
more active during FB than during SB, (ii) the point of ball
release and follow-through generated higher signals than
the other five movements during both bowling categories,
(iii) the BB muscle variability is higher during SB com-
pared with FB, (iv) four statistically significant differences
(p \ 0.05) found between the bowling phases in fast
bowling and three in spin bowling, and (v) several arm
mechanics occurred for muscle contraction. There are
possible clinical significances from the outcomes; like,
recurring dynamic contractions on BB muscle can facilitate
to clarify the maximum occurrence of shoulder pain as well
as biceps tendonitis those are medically observed in pro-
fessional cricket bowlers, and treatment methods with
specific injury prevention programmes should focus on the
different bowling phases with the maximum muscle effect.
Finally, these considerations will be of particular impor-
tance in assessing different physical therapy on bowler’s
muscle which can improve the ball delivery performance
and stability of cricket bowlers.
Keywords Cricket bowling � Fast and spin bowling �Surface electromyography � Biceps brachii
Introduction
Cricket is one of the oldest organized and the world’s
second most popular sports. This sport is played in many
countries worldwide, particularly British Commonwealth
Nations [1, 2]. It is a field-based sport between 2 teams of
11 players, and the players are needed to field and bat
throughout the game. Each player assumes different roles
throughout the match, and one of these roles is bowling
(delivery of the ball) a 156-g cricket ball toward a batsman
or his wicket. It typically requires ?1 s for the ball to reach
the batsman [3–5]. This bowling step is a complex skill that
can be categorized as either fast bowling, which indicates
that the ball is delivered at a fast pace (120–160 km/h), or
spin bowling, which indicates that the ball is delivered
slowly (60–90 km/h) but with some spin such that it
bounces at an angle off the bowling pitch [6, 7]. It is
notable that, the exact difference between bowlers who
N. U. Ahamed (&) � K. Sundaraj � Md. A. Ali � Md. A. Islam
AI-Rehab Research Group, Universiti Malaysia Perlis
(UniMAP), Kampus Pauh Putra, 02600 Arau, Perlis, Malaysia
e-mail: ahamed1557@hotmail.com
B. Ahmad
School of Computer and Communication Engineering,
Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP), Kampus Pauh Putra,
02600 Arau, Perlis, Malaysia
M. Rahman
College of Computer Science and Information System, Najran
University, Najran, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
123
Australas Phys Eng Sci Med
DOI 10.1007/s13246-014-0245-1
bowl and bowlers who throw is that those who throw use an
action similar to that of softball pitching, volleyball serving
and spiking, javelin throwing, and handball throwing [8–
10]. Although a cricket bowler does not throw the ball
during delivery and the International Cricket Council (ICC)
laws on illegal bowling actions states that a ball is not an
illegal delivery if the bowler does not extend his elbow
more than 15� from when the upper arm is horizontal
(which is not translated to arm reaching shoulder level as it
is only the upper arm that needs to reach this level) to when
the bowler releases the ball (which is the first frame that the
ball is not in contact with any part of the hand) [11].
However, during the delivery of the ball, the most common
upper limb active muscles are the biceps brachii (BB),
pectoralis major, deltoid, trapezius, latissimus dorsi,
infraspinatus, trapezius, serratus anterior, and supraspinatus
muscles [9, 12, 13].
Although cricket is a non-contact sport, such as baseball,
softball, and volleyball, playing cricket can result in a
number of injuries. Furthermore, overuse injuries are fre-
quent and related to the physical demands of high-level
cricket. These injuries most likely occur during ball
delivery through either fast or spin bowling because the
bowling action involves repetitive twisting, extension,
contraction, and rotation of the upper limb [1]. Therefore,
imperfect too-frequent executions of these movements may
lead to overuse damage of the muscles involved. Recently,
the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) declared that high-
level fast bowlers (FB) exhibit a significantly enhanced risk
of injury if their bowling workload exceeds more than
20–30 bowls during the period of 1 week [14, 15]. Simi-
larly, Stretch [16, 17] reports that 41 % of the injuries that
are sustained by cricket bowlers are due to frequent
bowling. Although other upper limb muscles are active and
affected during cricket bowling, we chose to study only the
BB muscle due to the lack of EMG research on this single
muscle. The BB muscle is particularly implicated in inju-
ries to FB, because of their repetitive delivery movements
[18, 19]. Moreover, BB muscle provides elbow flexion
torque during bowling, and therefore this is one of the
common areas of upper limb muscle where the biceps
tendonitis, strain, fatigue, acute injury and rupture is most
frequently occurred in bowler’s muscle [20, 21].
Therefore, it is essential to know when and how much
the BB muscles are active during cricket bowling because
this information will prove useful to the physicians, phys-
ical therapists, bowling trainers, and coaches in the design
of proper treatment, training, and rehabilitation protocols
for these athletes and will help the cricket bowlers better
understand the injury mechanism. Muscle activity can be
identified by the EMG sensor since the electrical signals
are generated in the human skeletal muscle during muscle
fibre contraction, which is always stochastic (random) [22,
23]. Surface EMG is the science and basic technique used
for the quantification of muscle activity during movement
[24]. In addition, it is a hassle-free procedure that can be
used to determine the timing and the amount of muscle
activation throughout a given movement and is an essential
tool in biomechanical and biomedical investigations [25].
To date, very few researchers have investigated the
electromyographic responses of the muscles with bowling
arm motion, particularly the BB, of cricket bowlers during
cricket bowling. For example, Shorter et al. investigated the
EMG consequences in two FB during four bowling delivery
stages: the pre-delivery stride, the back foot contact, the ball
release (RB), and the follow-through (FT). These researchers
briefly evaluated the activities of upper limb muscles and
found that the BB and the infraspinatus muscles are more
active and inconsistent compared with the other five muscles
[12]. Shorter et al. also compared the EMG values between
an injured and an uninjured cricket bowler and found that the
injured bowler generated greater muscle activity throughout
the bowling movement. In another study, the same
researchers analysed the EMG signals of the strain of the
muscles of FB and discovered that it is influenced by the
upper limbs [26]. However, these researchers did not men-
tion the upper limb muscle activity, and the BB was not
included. The aims of the two studies performed by Burden
et al. were to investigate and determine the sequential and
temporal patterns of the muscular activity of cricket bowlers
during fast bowling. These researchers found that the deltoid
muscles are active throughout the bowling movement; the
only exception is the posterior deltoid, which exhibits only a
slight contraction. Significant activity was also observed in
the latissimus dorsi immediately before the RB. Negligible
activity was found in the infraspinatus muscle and BB [13,
27]. Similar to the delivery of the cricket ball, some studies
investigated the muscle activity of the upper limb muscles,
including the BB muscle, of athletes during an overhead
throwing activity, such as baseball pitching, javelin throw-
ing, volleyball serving and spiking, and scoring in basketball.
These studies mainly investigated the muscle activity, fati-
gue, amount of firing patterns, signal variability, and neu-
romuscular mechanism [10, 28–41]. However, among all of
these sports, it has been shown that cricket bowling and
baseball pitching exhibit similar characteristics [42, 43]. For
example, cricket bowlers bowl with a 156-g cricket ball, and
a baseball pitcher throws a 141.74- to 148.84-g ball to gen-
erate the BB muscle contraction. Thus, Rojas et al. [10]
investigated only the BB activity during pitching and com-
pared it with that observed during the overhead throwing of a
ball.
In the literature review, the existing studies on the BB
muscle were not able to clarify the EMG activity exhibited
by the BB muscle of bowlers during spin bowling, did not
compare the muscle activities of spin and FB, did not
Australas Phys Eng Sci Med
123
analyse the EMG signal variability exhibited by the muscle
during each of the different bowling phases and obviously
EMG signal analysis with motion pictures that synchronize
to find the BB muscle activity and arm mechanics.
Therefore, based on previous information on the dissimi-
larities in the variations in the amplitude of the EMG signal
during cricket bowling, the rationales of this study were to
detect the BB muscle activity during particular phases of a
cricket bowling, in addition to compare the overall BB
activity between the fast and spin bowlers. Finally, the
research hypothesis attributed to the relation between the
EMG signal parameters and the muscle contraction
mechanisms that underlie each block of the bowling
movements.
Materials and methods
Participants
A group of 16 healthy university cricket male players (amateur
bowlers) participated in this study. Of these, eight bowlers
performed fast bowling, and the remaining eight performed spin
bowling. All of the bowlers had regularly played prior to the
study and bowled either in school-, college-, university-, or
state-level cricket games. Currently, the participants play in a
university cricket team. The mean and the standard deviations
(mean ± SD) of the demographics of the two bowling cate-
gories were the following: FB, n = 8, age = 25.1 ± 3.1 years,
height = 171.1 ± 6.4 cm, and weight = 71.1 ± 3.7 kg; SB,
n = 8, age = 24.6 ± 3.3 years, height = 172.4 ± 5.6 cm,
and weight = 70.8 ± 3.9 kg.
Ethical statement
This study was approved by the university research and
development review board for human subjects. All of the
participants were screened for any musculoskeletal ache or
disorder of the BB muscle by an experienced health pro-
fessional. The entire procedures conformed to the World
Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki (Ethical
Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Sub-
jects). Additionally, the subjects’ cricket bowling activity
and health were assessed with a questionnaire.
Familiarization
The subjects all participated in an orientation session
roughly 1 day prior to testing. This familiarisation session
covered the rules of the activity, the testing protocols and
process, and a general discussion regarding the EMG data
recording and movement analysis during bowling. In
addition, the participants were allowed to practice in the
cricket net. The subjects received information on the trials
and the objectives of the experiment and provided signed
informed consent.
Experimental overview
Cricket bowling
Bowling is the action in a cricket game during which the
ball is pushed toward the wicket that is defended by a
batsman (opposite side), and a cricket player that is an
expert at bowling is called a bowler [44]. Although no
batsman was present in this experiment, the bowlers
delivered the ball toward the wicket, and each bowler
performed 3 overs, i.e., 18 ball deliveries, during the trials
(a set of 6 ball deliveries is called an over). There was a
5-min gap between each over and a 1-min gap between
each delivery. One-hundred and forty-four trials (ball
deliveries) of each bowling category were performed (from
the SB and FB, e.g., 8 SB delivered 18 balls to obtain
18 9 8 = 144 total trials), and the corresponding motion
direction of the upper extremity and EMG data from BB
muscle were recorded during each trial.
Only the valid deliveries according to the law of ICC
were considered [45]. Thus, an expert and officially rec-
ognized cricket coach was present throughout the trials for
the bowling validation [he is currently a Level I coach in the
Asia region and is a recognized Asian Cricket Coach
(ACC)]. Some exclusion criteria (did not consider for EMG
data analysis) during bowling were the following: ball
delivered outside the pitch, extremely full-touched (over the
head), no-ball (cross the line of the bowling popping
crease), and throwing (the bowling delivery rules and
legalities were not maintained). If such case happened, that
particular ball delivery was cancelled for EMG measure-
ment process. Finally, EMG data from all 144 trials per
bowling style were chosen for analysis. Also, during the
bowling action, the velocity of each bowling delivery was
measured using a handheld ProSpeed Professional radar
gun (Bushnell Speedster Series 2, Radar Gun, Model No.
101900), which was placed in back of the stamps. The
average speed of the ball bowled through fast bowling was
128.73 ± 0.34 km/h, and the average speed of the ball
bowled through spin bowling was 83.4 ± 0.67 km/h. These
speeds fulfilled the bowling speed classification according
the ICC and other definitions from cricket researchers [6, 7].
Motion analysis
All the experiments were carried out in the university
biomechanics and human motion analysis laboratory.
Three high-speed digital cameras [Qualisys Track Manager
(QTM) software; Qualisys AB, Gothenburg, Sweden]
Australas Phys Eng Sci Med
123
sampling at 400 Hz were placed next to the bowling crease
and relative to the bowler to assist in the definition of the
different phases of the delivery stride. The camera was
used to quantify the synchronisation between the bowling
phases, EMG data processing and for the analysis of the
bowling arm motion. Also, it was used to determine the
trimmings of each of the phases using frame-by-frame
assessment of the video. Three anatomically aligned, pas-
sive and retro-reflective markers were placed on the sub-
ject’s muscle according to the following specifications:
shoulder, elbow and wrist. Both of the bowling deliveries
(FB and SB) were broken down into seven stages: (a) run-
up (RU), (b) pre-delivery stride (PS), (c) mid bound (MB),
(d) back-foot contact (BC), (e) front-foot contact (FC),
(f) release of the ball (RB), and (g) follow-through (FT)
[27, 46, 47]. Figure 1 depicts these 7 stages in the delivery
of a ball from a FB. Three types of dynamic contractions of
the bowling phases (eccentric, concentric and isokinetic)
were identified by examining the muscle fascicle lengths
(muscle shortening and lengthening) and pennation angle
(at a constant joint angle) during manual muscle test.
EMG measurement
The electromyographic activity at the BB muscle skin
surface was recorded using two channels of single differ-
ential wireless EMG with an inter-electrode space of
10 mm (DE-02, Delsys Inc., Bagnoli-4, Boston, MA,
USA). The Delsys EMG system also included a portable
myomonitor, which was fixed to the bowler’s waist
(Fig. 2). Before recording the raw signal, the skin of the
BB muscle was set up by shaving and removing any oil and
dust from the skin surface with an abrasive alcohol swab
(as suggested by the manufacturer). The skin was then
prepared, and the electrodes were placed in accordance
with the method described by Hermens et al., Zipp, and
Delagi and Perotto [48–50]. The studied bowling move-
ments were extremely fast and dynamic, thus a particular
care in electrode positioning was took place during each
ball delivery. For example, an elastic bandage was wrapped
around the EMG electrodes to secure the devices from
extraneous movement while not impeding muscular func-
tion or movement about the shoulder and elbow joints,
because it produces relatively dynamic movement between
muscle and skin. Also, the entire protocol was designed to
minimize movement artifact (e.g. cross talk) and make sure
a tolerable level of electrode impedance (inter-electrode
impedance was\2,000 X) [51]. In addition, the raw EMG
signals were visually analysed before the recording to
ensure that the background noises and artifacts from the
appliances in the testing area were minimized.
Prior to the bowling action, 2 electrodes were attached to
the mid-belly of the contracted BB muscle of the bowlers,
and the exact point was instantly marked with semi-per-
manent ink to ensure constant placement throughout the
testing period. The electrodes were silver bar electrodes
(10 mm 9 1 mm) and were placed at a fixed inter-electrode
distance of 10 mm. The reference electrode (2 cm 9 2 cm)
was attached to the lateral epicondyle of the humerus of the
bowling arm (*1 inch on the olecranon of the elbow).
Fig. 1 Phases during cricket fast bowling (see text for further information), a RU run-up, b PS pre-delivery stride, c MB mid bound, d BC back-
foot contact, e FC front-foot contact, f RB release of the ball, and g FT follow-through
Fig. 2 Photograph depicting a cricket bowler performing spin
bowling. The right photograph illustrates the position of the arm
(and the BB muscle) during a spin delivery at the end of the run up
phase and prior to the delivery of the ball. a EMG electrodes with a
double-sided adhesive skin interface, b reference electrode, c 156-g
cricket ball with a circumference of 224–229 mm, d the myomonitor
system connected to the EMG electrodes and connected wirelessly
with the Bagnoli Desktop EMG System, and e high-speed digital
camera
Australas Phys Eng Sci Med
123
Figure 2 illustrates the complete experimental process of
the EMG data recording of the activity of the BB muscle of
a cricket bowler. (It was a demo photo, so the elastic ban-
dage was not used to show the electrodes placement.)
EMG data analysis
One of the main aims of this study was to quantitatively
evaluate the amplitude variations of the EMG signal from
the bowler’s BB muscle activation levels. For this reason,
the raw signals were recorded and digitized at a sampling
rate of 2 kHz before their A–D conversion and stored on a
compatible computer for subsequent analysis. The raw
EMG signals were sampled with a 10–500 Hz band pass
filter (4th order Butterworth; CMRR [92 dB, input noise
\1.2 l V, impedance of 1,012 X in parallel with 5 pF), and
the gain was fixed at 1,000 for all of the channels. The total
configuration is in accordance with the earlier suggestions
provided by De Luca [52]. The raw EMG signal was per-
formed off-line using MATLAB with the Signal processing
toolbox (The Math-works, USA). The EMG amplitude
measurements (in mV) from the bowler’s BB muscle during
each of the seven bowling phases during the two bowling
categories were obtained. Maximum EMG reference values
were calculated for the BB muscle by using the maximum
peaks (from six deliveries) EMG signals to represent 100 %
MVC. Then the normalized signal amplitude [root mean
square (RMS [mV])], were computed from the EMG signal
for 7 phases of the 2 bowling categories. The time window
(sequence lengths) for the RMS calculation for each phases
are presented in Table 3, where the average segments are
presented with ±milliseconds (ms).
Statistical analysis
Descriptive statistics, including the mean and standard
deviation, the RMS, and the peak amplitude (average
maximum peak) of the normalized EMG data, for each
phase and bowling type were examined. The coefficient of
variation (CV, the standard deviation expressed as a per-
centage of the mean) was calculated for the normalized
data for both bowling types. A two-way repeated measures
ANOVA (2 techniques of bowling delivery 9 7 bowling
phases) was used to compare the normalized EMG. All of
the statistical tests were performed using the MedCalc
statistical software (MedCalc� Version 11.3.0.0). Statisti-
cal significance was defined at p \ 0.05 (95 %).
Results
The EMG data obtained for the 16 bowlers were pooled for
the analysis. The mean ± SD, the the maximum peak
(EMGpeak), the RMS (EMGRMS), the CVs (EMGCV), and
the significant differences between each bowling phase are
summarized in Table 1. Additionally, the statistical com-
parisons (absolute value) between the two bowling cate-
gories and the seven phases are presented in Table 2.
Muscle activity during the seven bowling phases
Fast bowling
The maximum BB activity was found during the RB
(release of ball) phase, and the outcomes were measured by
the mean ± SD, the EMGpeak, and the EMGRMS
(1.93 ± 0.05, 1.97, and 1.39 mV, respectively). During the
FT phase, the BB exhibited slightly lower activity than
during the RB phase but higher activity than that observed
during the other 5 phases (the mean ± SD, the EMGpeak,
and the EMGRMS during this phase were 1.42 ± 0.04, 1.47,
and 1.03 mV, respectively). In contrast, the BB generated
lower signals during the RU, PS, and MB phases (the
mean ± SD were 0.42 ± 0.01, 0.65 ± 0.02, and
0.75 ± 0.02, respectively; the EMGpeak values were 0.44,
0.68, and 0.79, respectively; the EMGRMS values were
0.31, 0.48, and 0.55 mV, respectively). Moreover, the
EMG values were moderate during the BC and FC phases
(the mean ± SD were 0.91 ± 0.03 and 0.98 ± 0.08,
respectively; the EMGpeak values were 0.96 and 1.16,
respectively; the EMGRMS values were 0.68 and 0.82 mV,
respectively). The EMG signal variability on the BB was
higher during the FC phase (7.84 %). However, the signal
was more constant during the RB, FT, and MB phases
(within 1–3 %). Subsequently, the BB was slightly steady
during remaining 3 movements: RU, PS and BC (within
3–4 %). In addition, in this bowling category, the EMG
amplitude analysis revealed significant differences
(p \ 0.05) between the RU and the MB phases, between
the PS and the FC phases, between the BC and the FT
phases, and between the RB and the FT phases (see Fig. 3;
Table 1). On the other hand, the remaining phases did not
significantly differ from each other (p [ 0.05).
Spin bowling
During this bowling movement, the BB muscle was active
during the RB and the FT phases (the mean ± SD were
1.21 ± 0.04 and 1.11 ± 0.12, respectively; the EMGpeak
values were 1.31 and 1.39, respectively; the EMGRMS
values were 0.92 and 0.98 mV, respectively). The running
with the ball (RU) phase generated a lower EMG activity
compared with all of the other stages (the mean ± SD, the
EMGpeak, and the EMGRMS were 0.31 ± 0.02, 0.35, and
0.24 mV, respectively). There were less signal differences
found between the PS and the MB phases and between the
Australas Phys Eng Sci Med
123
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Australas Phys Eng Sci Med
123
BC and the FC phases during this bowling movement. The
variability of the FT phase generated the maximal muscle
inconsistency (10.94 %) compared with the other phases.
The RU, PS, RB, and MB phases exhibited slightly lower
inconsistency in the signal generation (within 4–6 %).
However, the BB muscle of SB was constant during the BC
and FC phases (1.56 and 2.13 %, respectively). In addition,
in this bowling category, the EMG amplitude analysis
revealed significant differences (p \ 0.05) between the PS
and the BC phases, between the BC and the FT phases, and
between the RB and the FC phases (see Fig. 4; Table 1).
On the other hand, the remaining phases did not signifi-
cantly differ from each other (p [ 0.05).
EMG comparison between FB versus SB
The line graph on Fig. 5 shows the average (mean) EMG
signal difference between two bowling deliveries. The sum
of all of the bowling phases revealed that the BB muscle
was more active during FB (1.02 ± 0.03 mV) than during
SB (0.78 ± 0.04; Table 1). Additionally, large differences
(0.83 mV) were found in the EMGpeak value between the
two bowling categories. The EMGRMS results show that a
higher force on the BB muscle was generated during FB
compared with SB (0.76 and 0.61 mV, respectively).
However, the signal variability during FB (3.58 %) was
qualitatively less than that during SB (4.23 %), as reflected
in Fig. 6. Table 2 illustrates some of the high and low
differences between the seven bowling phases during FB
and SB. For example, the RU and BC phases exhibit lower
signal (mean values) differences (0.1 and 0.08 mV,
respectively) during both bowling deliveries. In contrast, a
large dissimilarity was found in the muscle variability
during the FT and the FC phases (8.39 and 5.7 %,
respectively). Similarly, the EMGRMS and EMGpeak results
show a large difference during the RB stage (0.471 and
0.665 mV, respectively).
Fig. 3 Mean and SD (error bar) of the muscle activation during FB
(from eight bowlers)
Fig. 4 Mean and SD (error bar) of the muscle activation during SB
(from eight bowlers)
Fig. 5 Activity of the BB muscle during fast (eight participants) and
spin (eight participants) bowling (based on the EMGAVG)
Table 2 Statistical comparison between each bowling stages (abso-
lute value)
Phase DMean DSD DCV (%) DPeak DRMS
RU 0.11 0.01 1.87 0.09 0.06
PS 0.13 0.01 2.04 0.11 0.07
MB 0.17 0.02 4.61 0.16 0.11
BC 0.09 0.02 2.19 0.12 0.08
FC 0.15 0.06 5.71 0.29 0.21
RB 0.72 0.01 2.52 0.67 0.47
FT 0.31 0.08 8.39 0.08 0.06
RU run-up, PS pre-delivery stride, MB mid bound, BC back-foot
contact, FC front-foot contact, RB release of the ball, FT follow-
through
Australas Phys Eng Sci Med
123
Arm mechanics
Table 3 presents the type of motion patterns of the cricket
bowler’s upper extremity during seven phases of bowling.
This relates to BB muscle’s activation in concert with
surrounding muscles. The length of analyzed EMG signal
epochs was considered according to the subject’s motions
which are mentioned in the following table. Also, the types
of dynamic contractions are given according to the manual
test performed prior to the final experiment. Finally, some
references are given as the evidence of similar contortions
during such movement during pitching, volleyball serving
and other throwing activities. The arm mechanics and the
timing activity (duration) of the bowlers during two types
of bowling delivery was almost similar, except the duration
of running (RU) phase, because it differed between two
bowling style.
Discussion
Three primary activities are observed during a cricket
game: bowling, fielding, and batting [42]. Among these
movements, bowling exhibits the highest chance of muscle
injury, and both types of bowlers (fast and spin) are at risk,
especially if they bowl frequently [16, 17]. Consequently,
the different bowling phases in cricket require the stressful
use of the upper limb muscles, and the BB muscle is one of
the most common muscles that are injured during bowling.
Indubitably, BB considered as the most important muscle
from the superior limb because it helps to control move-
ments in the shoulder, elbow and proximal radioulnar
joints. Therefore, it is important to know the exact char-
acteristic of the BB muscle during cricket bowling. The
main aim of this experiment was to examine the
electromyographic role of the BB muscle during the 7
bowling phases in fast and spin bowling. The experimental
data showed that FB generated higher EMG signals than SB,
and that the muscles are more active during ball delivery
and follow-though phases on both the bowling categories. In
addition, these variables have a significant influence on the
level of EMG activity and may account for the high amount
of variability detected between some phases of the bowling
action. Another important finding of this research is, as BB
muscle is most commonly injured during bowling, this study
examined the upper extremity recruitment during arm
movements of seven phases, which include all planes of
motion (see Table 3). This relates to BB muscle’s activation
in concert with surrounding muscles.
The effect of EMG on the upper limb muscles during
cricket bowling has been extensively reported in earlier
studies. Also, they have mentioned that most of the move-
ments in bowling seems to be performed by the shoulder
joint (flexion, extension and hyperextension), which are
mobilized mainly by deltoideus and latissimus dorsalis
muscles. However, the exact activity of the BB muscle
during each phase of the bowling action and the differences
between the two types of bowlers are not completely and
clearly understood [12, 13, 26, 27]. It is commonly thought
that the BB muscle is more active during the last two stages
(RB and FT) overhead throwing compared with the other
five stages, as was shown by Rojas et al. [10] in a windmill
ball pitching (throwing) experiment. One study on cricket
bowling by Shorter et al. [12] analysed and compared the
activities of the infraspinatus, supraspinatus, deltoid, BB,
and triceps brachii muscles between injured and uninjured
bowlers during five phases of fast bowling. These
researchers also showed that the BB is more active during
the last phases and that the BB muscle generates the third
highest EMG activity of the upper limb muscles. Our
findings demonstrate that the BB muscle has significantly
higher EMG activity during the last 2 phases, which sup-
ports the initial hypothesis. Comparison of Figs. 3 and 4
illustrates that the BB muscle of a FB running (RU-phase)
with a 156-g ball exhibits a slightly higher signal than that
exhibited by a SB with a slow movement. In addition, the
isokinetic submaximal contraction was produced when the
speed of the arm movement was constant until the PS stage.
The next phase, which is the pre-delivery stride, occurs
when the elbow is extended, the BB is slightly contracted,
and the shoulder is rotated. This low contraction generates a
better EMG signal than the previous phase for both bowling
categories. During the third phase, the elbow was fully bent
and the arm positioned behind the head where the BB
muscle was concentrically contracted. Conversely, the next
phase (BC) generates an eccentric contraction when the arm
is straightened toward the ground. During these 2 phases,
the EMG activities were moderate during both bowling
Fig. 6 The bar graph shows the EMG variability between the two
bowling types and the seven bowling phases
Australas Phys Eng Sci Med
123
deliveries. During the fifth phase, the arm reaches its highest
external rotation and maximal elbow flexion. As a result, the
generated EMG signals on the BB muscle were higher than
those observed during the previous phases. The maximal
forces were generated during ball delivery and follow-
through during both bowling types. Therefore, the produced
EMG signals were higher during these last 2 stages.
We must emphasise that the bowling movement is quite
complex and happens at high velocities of execution. Hence,
one can point out that angular joints accelerations and
decelerations provided by BB muscle, mainly in shoulder
and elbow joints, must happen under significant variations
of the EMG signal energy. It happens because there is no
homogeneity in the spatial motor unit recruitment (including
Table 3 Definitions of motions were examined during bowling (only from the bowling arm)
BP MotionCont (BB)
(Ave time: ±ms)References(according to similar movement)
RUFig. 1(a)
Subject grab the ball cylindrically within their palm, the wrist was with mid-supination through to the fully pronated position (the forearm volar side was parallel to the ground), the arm was hanging straight down with a straight elbow and the shoulder was neutral position (0º abduction neutral rotation) and the arm was swinging almost at same movement speed and generates pendular motion.
Isk
FB: 2870SB: 1945
[55,56]
PSFig. 1(b)
90° abduction of the shoulder with maximum active sidelyng external rotation, elbowmovements in the presence of the external torque (which tended to lengthen the elbowjoint) provided by a low-load weighted ball and BB muscle was slightly contracted.
Conc
570
[57,58]
MBFig. 1(c)
Shoulder provided forward elevation, lift their arm dynamically to >90° (90° to 150°), placedtheir hand actively behind their head (at ear level) and concentric contractions were made with the active arm.
Conc
659
[59,60]
BC & FCFig. 1(d)
& (e)
The shoulder moved with complete overhead elevation where the clavicle elevates at 35º, the clavicle relocates with anteriorly and posteriorly in an arc of 35º, the clavicle rotates on its long axis at 45º while the arm is elevated to the complete overhead position. Likewise, the shoulder continued its internal rotation with straight elbow angle (flexors) and horizontal flexion. The eccentric contractions were made against gravity with the active arm.
Ecn
450 (d)549 (e)
[61,62]
RBFig. 1(f)
The elbow extension strength demonstrates its peak at from 100° to 120° of the elbow joint angle, maximal abduction and external rotation occurred at the shoulder and continues until the ball release.
Ecn
360 [63,58]
FTFig. 1(g)
Final interval of arm motion where it dissipates some of the deceleration forces. The shoulder continued its internal rotation and minimum elbow horizontal flexion.
Ecn
1400[37,64]
BP bowling phases, Cont contraction, Isk isokinetic, Conc concentric, Ecn eccentric, Shoulder angles in the coronal plane measured with a
goniometer, the arrow symbol represents the immediate changes of the certain motion from one to another
Australas Phys Eng Sci Med
123
nearby the surface electrodes), even in a fusiform muscle
such as BB, and also due to the length and torque and
moment of inertia variations. All these variables will lead to
very complex and non stationarity content in the temporal
and frequency domains in the EMG signal and so resulting
in different CVs for the parameters calculated. Moreover,
the amplitude normalization performances in the stretch
shortening cycle have a variable consequence on the CV. As
a result, issues of signal variability and consistency need to
be considered when the temporal EMG signal characteris-
tics are used for the classification of movement strategies
[53]. According to the CV results, the BB muscles are more
variable during spin bowling (4.23 %) than during fast
bowling (3.58 %) due to the increased interval rotation,
horizontal adduction, and elbow extension and flexion that
are generated during spin bowling. Therefore, a twisting
force is generated on the muscle that tends to cause rotation,
i.e., torque. As illustrated in Fig. 6, most of the SB phases
exhibit high signal variability compared to the correspond-
ing FB phases. Moreover, the BB muscle exhibits high
signal variation after ball delivery (FT) in SB and during the
front-foot contact phase in FB. One study by Shorter et al.
[12] described the muscle variability during cricket bowling
and demonstrated the inconsistency of the upper limb
muscles during fast bowling between 2 subjects. However,
the BB muscle variability during the different phases of FB
and SB has not been investigated. In addition, previous
researchers who have investigated cricket bowling have not
reported any significant differences between the bowling
phases. In contrast, our results proved that significant dif-
ferences (p \ 0.05) are found between the RU and the MB
phases, between the PS and the FC phases, between the BC
and the FT phases, and between the RB and the FT phases in
fast bowling. Additionally, significant differences
(p \ 0.05) were observed during spin bowling between the
PS and the BC phases, between the BC and the FT phases,
and between the RB and the FC phases.
We hope that the EMG data recorded and analysed in
this study may progress the body of knowledge on the
activity of the BB muscle during both types of cricket
bowling, which is a topic that is still under discussion in the
sports medicine community. Based on the findings, some
precise training of rehabilitation programs can be devel-
oped for the bowlers. Additionally, bowlers can enhance
their strength and muscle power during bowling to obtain
the highest execution to defeat the batsman.
Practical applications
Both professional and amateur cricket bowlers deliver a
large number of balls throughout their sports career, and
these frequent bowling deliveries enhance their risk of
sustaining an overuse injury in the upper limb extremities,
especially on the BB muscle. Therefore, damage to the BB
muscle can affect and reduce the bowler’s performance. It
is notable that bowling trainers, physical therapists and
cricket coaches have a qualitative depiction of the BB
muscle activation patterns required to deliver the ball to the
batsman. Indeed, extensive knowledge of the activation
and variability of the BB muscle during the cricket bowling
action provides the physicians, clinicians and researchers
working with cricket athletes a hypothesis for the design of
preventative and rehabilitative programs. Additionally,
clinicians should integrate strengthening exercises that
imitate the timing of the activation and foundation of the
maximal muscle activation observed throughout the dif-
ferent bowling phases. For example, if the BB muscle on
the dominant arm is most active during the RB and the FT
phases, rehabilitation exercises should be developed in
these two phase positions. Similarly, the BB muscle
activity and consistency observed in fast and SB are dif-
ferent; thus, different rehabilitation protocols or exercises
need to be developed for both bowling categories. Alter-
natively, during the rehabilitation of a cricket bowler with
biceps tendonitis (an inflammation of the biceps tendon),
attention should paid to the activity from just before the RB
and throughout the FT phase. Moreover, interior strength-
ening is required to properly assist the transmission of
energy to reduce the stress placed on the BB muscle during
a successful ball delivery on the cricket pitch.
Strengths of this study
To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that has
objectively analyzed the BB muscle activity during fast and
spin (slow) cricket bowling and during each phase of these
two bowling categories with arm mechanics. We did not
find any comparable studies in the literature that explained
these physiological measurements on the BB muscle during
cricket bowling. Another key strength of the current study
was the analysis of the electromyographic signal variability
during each phase and bowling type. The signal consistency
of the BB muscle has not been examined in previous EMG
studies, and this feature is a significant prospective con-
founder based on the inconsistency observed in some of the
EMG characteristics between bowlers. Another strong point
of this research is that the limitations of earlier studies on
cricket bowling were considered during the design of the
study. The EMG normalisation techniques, the protocols,
and the sample size were cautiously assessed before the data
recording was commenced. We hope that the findings of
this study will aid the cricket medicine community because
the proper prevention of BB muscle damage is essential for
the rehabilitation of cricket bowlers.
Australas Phys Eng Sci Med
123
Limitations of the study
It is essential to note that there are a number of limitations
in this study. Although other upper limb muscles are
influenced and active during cricket bowling, our main
focus was on the activity of the BB muscle on the bowling
arm. Thus, this study only investigated the performance of
the BB muscle on the right arm of male cricket players.
Next, all of the subjects were amateur bowlers. We over-
estimated the entire EMG data results and not taking any
advantage from the kinematic data to estimate kinetic
parameters (for example, moments of inertia, flexion/
extension cycles, movement velocities in contractions),
which would surely help to flesh them out.
Conclusions
Although the analysis of the muscle activity during cricket
bowling is important due to the high rate of injury of the
upper limb muscles, very few studies have analyzed the
muscle activity, especially the activity of the BB muscle,
based on an electromyographic investigation. To address
this research gap, the current study evaluated EMG data to
determine the BB activity and the peak activity areas during
each phase of fast and spin bowling. In summary, the
present research showed that, (i) the BB muscle is active
during fast bowling, (ii) the EMG signal is inconsistent
during spin bowling, (iii) the BB muscle is active during the
last two phases (RB and FT) of both bowling categories, and
(iv) four significant differences between the phases of fast
bowling and three significant differences between the pha-
ses of spin bowling were found. Finally, the entire results
support our hypothesis and provide a basic understanding of
the BB muscle activation patterns, which may help eluci-
date the patterns of muscle injury and improve the reha-
bilitation protocols used in the treatment of cricket bowling
athletes. Additionally, these outcomes might encourage
cricket bowlers and coaches to design resistance training
protocols from a performance and prophylactic perspective.
This scientific investigation could be applied to formulate
muscle-specific instructions, exercises, and treatment pro-
tocols to reduce injuries, support rehabilitation, and
improve the performance and durability of cricket bowlers.
Recommendations for future research
Further investigations on the BB muscle during cricket bat-
ting and fielding (over head and under arm ball throw) are
needed. Additionally, other upper limb muscles, such as the
deltoids, pectoralis, latissimus dorsi, trapezius, teres major
and minor, triceps brachii, wrist flexors, and rotator cuff
muscles, are involved during the cricket bowling action [1,
12, 13, 27, 54]. Future studies need to investigate the effect
and coordination of these muscles and the EMG effect
through motion analysis (kinematic data) to obtain a clearer
understanding of the bowling phases. Furthermore, there is a
clear need for fundamental research on the electromyo-
graphic differences between professional and amateur
bowlers using a large sample size. Another important topic
on EMG analysis is muscle fatigue or failure, which includes
a group of discriminating effects that damage and weaken the
motor performance of human muscle. This is particularly
important in the muscles of bowlers due to the frequency of
ball delivery during a test or one-day game, i.e., during a
game, bowlers typically deliver the ball six times, which may
reduce the muscle performance. Researchers should inves-
tigate the different EMG results that are obtained for the BB
muscle of individuals with different anthropometric char-
acteristics, such as age, height, weight, gender, fat thickness,
and other demographic characteristics, and with variations in
the inter-electrode distance. Moreover, studies on how the
different bowling deliveries influence the BB and other
muscles should be conducted. For example, there are several
types of spin bowling deliveries: arm-ball, doosra, teesra,
flipper, googly, carrom ball, leg break, off break, slider, and
top-spinner. As a result, different torques may be generated
during this bowling action, and these may produce different
muscle activities.
Acknowledgments The authors would like to thank all the bowlers
for their participation in this study. The authors would also like to
thank Mr. Moganraj Palianysamy, a Level I Asian Cricket Coach
(ACC), for his assistance and full-time presence during the bowling
and data recording process.
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