Prevalence and incidence of injuries among female cricket players: a systematic review and meta-analyses

Abstract

Cricket, a bat-or-ball sport, is growing in popularity among women of all ages and abilities around the world. Cricket participation, on the other hand, carries an injury risk. Injuries have a negative impact on sport participation, performance, as well as short- and long-term health and well-being. Injury prevention is thus the key to long term safe cricket participation as a physical activity goal. Epidemiological data is required to support evidence-based injury prevention strategies. The objective of this systematic review is to describe the prevalence and incidence of injuries among female cricket players. Female participants of all ages, participating in all levels of cricket were included in the review, including studies that report data by sex. Studies with insufficient data, female cricket injury data not distinguished from males or other athletes, male only data and case studies were excluded. A systematic review and meta-analyses were conducted according to Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) and PRISMA guidelines. MEDLINE, SPORTDiscus, Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro), EBSCOhost MasterFILE Premier, EBSCOhost CINAHL Complete, ProQuest Health and Medical Complete, SCOPUS and Science Direct were systematically searched from inception to August 2020. Additionally, Cochrane Controlled Trials Register and ClincalTrail.gov, were searched. OpenGrey (SIGLE), WorldCat, Grey Matters, Grey Literature and Google Scholar were searched for grey literature. A total of 3,349 studies were found after duplicates removed and 20 studies met the inclusion criteria. Full-text articles which met the inclusion criteria were critically appraised using JBI critical appraisal instruments. Nineteen studies had a low risk of bias. Data were extracted using JBI data extraction instruments. Data was synthesized in a narrative summary and tabular forms using JBI SUMARI software. Meta-analyses were conducted using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis 3.0 for injury incidence rate (injury IR), injury incidence proportions (injury IP) and injury prevalence proportions (injury PP). The random effects model and the I2 statistic was used to assess the heterogeneity. The weighted injury IR was 72.1 (95% CI 30.4-113.8) per 1,000 player hours and scored low heterogeneity. The injury IP was 90.8 (95% CI 89.0-92.5) per 1,000 participants, however this meta-analysis has high heterogeneity and should be interpreted with caution. The injury PP was 63.1% (95% CI 47.7-78.5) and scored low 7 heterogeneity. The most prevalent body regions injured were the shoulder, knee, and ankle, foot and toes, and injuries to these areas were most frequently sustained by fast bowlers. Injuries to the hand, wrist and fingers had the highest incidence compared to other body areas and injuries to these areas were most frequently sustained by fielders. This review highlights that the prevalence and incidence of injuries sustained by female cricket players are high. The quantitative findings from this study will provide stakeholders (including players, coaches, clinicians, administrators and policymakers) with level 1 evidence to implement injury prevention and appropriate female cricket players management strategies. This review identified gaps in the existing literature that should be filled through future research to advance women's cricket as a professional sport