Knee update - ongoing through the 2021 season

 It seems that if anything is going to stop me playing cricket or at least stop me from bowling it's going to be my knees.

Back in February I mentioned that the left knee felt like it was the more susceptible to further issues, but after the first game of the season where I've only bowled 5 overs, the right knee is the one that feels sore and the soreness is in the back of the knee rather than the front and it's still sore 24 hours later. Not swollen, just sore I might roll it and see if that make it feel any better, but I check to see if that's a good idea first!

8th May 2021

Played a couple of weekends on the trot and both games got through with no real flare ups or swelling, but some soreness and feeling of being 'Full' in the back of the knee, sort of a water on the knee feeling. Was scheduled to play this weekend (8th), but the game was called off thankfully as towards the end of the week my knee grew ever more sore with some limited swelling which I kind of reckon would be described as possibly being 'water on the knee'. Looking at all the description of what it might be it seems most likely to be connected to the popletius. Anyway it's the right knee and it's sore rather than painful and at the moment (8th of May) it feels as though I'd be unlikely to play this coming weekend. 

https://www.sportsinjurybulletin.com/popliteus-assessment-and-rehabilitation/

This link above has got some useful stuff. 

And this one in particular https://www.cricketgraph.com/knee-injuries-and-cricketers-a-better-way-to-prevent-knee-injuries/

I need to use inner soles with a higher arch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhYwEr4BgRE

Warm up before bowling https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYfbmqdpjkI

Bowling warm up https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3c2HmCzYr8

First practice of 2021 with Joe and Ben!

 There had been a practice session a couple of nights ago, but what with it being freezing cold and getting in late we 'Longed it off'. A couple of night later it was 'Sign up' night at the club and I went down -paid my subs and paid for a months worth of games. While I was there I heard there was a chance for a practice this Saturday (Today) and I was up for that at 12.30. Joe said he'd go and my older son Ben who played up till he did his GCSE's said he wouldn't be going "Last thing I want to do - do I look like a 'Crack head'"?

It was a lovely crisp sunny day, the frost had melted a few hours beforehand and it was dry with a light breeze. I got my gear ready including some new cricket shoes, woke Joe up and got ready. As I got the bags in the car, Ben came out and said "Yeah I'm coming" and so for the first time in a few years all three of us practiced together. We're all bowlers and we all seemed to bowl okay, they were a bit knackered and sore after as they don't really do any exercise. I took loads of wickets - hitting the stumps with both Flippers and Leg-Breaks. Joe had a good day with the bat. I think Joe is better than his usual No.11 and he batted really well by all accounts today and he was well chuffed and said that he actually enjoyed it. I've always said that as he gets older he'll just get more confident and less fearful and he said he was fine, but conceded that if any of our quick's had been there he may have felt different. Ben took his wicket and he said that Ben was surprisingly quick given he's not picked up a ball in years. Joe was enjoying it so much he didn't want to come home!

The good thing was Ben (older son) wasn't negative about it and I've suggested that maybe he plays in the 4's and just play away games or something? We'll have to see...

Next game is Saturday 24th over at Mopsies and that's an interclub game, I'm really looking forward to that. Can't wait!

Bit of exercise

 With the season closing on us fast and no nets again this year, exercise has been few and far between other than stuff that I can do indoors. I'm not one for running around the streets or muddy woods as it bores me to tears, but over the Easter break I've been doing some serious gardening and that's helped out a bit as in the last couple of days I've been for a walk and round my circuit in the local woods and bowled 60 balls in a session yesterday and both went okay. In fact the walk/run around the circuit has gone pretty well with recovery rate data to suggest I'm doing quite well.

The wood walk/run takes about 19 mins and I use and interval timer that bleeps every 2 mins. I walk as fast as I physically can and on the bleeps I run for about 20 seconds. Dependent on fitness levels the 20 second run bit is done as fast as I can physically do it and this is supposed to replicate cricket scenarios - running between wickets and fielding where, you're not continuously running, but running sporadically. 

The first of these run/walks yielded a recovery rate of 26 two days ago and today with some bowling done yesterday the recovery rate improved to 36. So over the next couple of weeks I'm going to see if I can get it up to the 59 + region as per the chart below.

https://www.sundried.com/blogs/training/heart-rate-recovery-and-fitness-levels

Heart Rate Recovery

How fast your heart rate can return from high intensity near max bpm to resting rate is known as your heart rate recovery.  HR Recovery is measured after performing strenuous exercise for a given period of time and then measuring how far your heart rate drops two minutes after stopping that exercise. For example, sprinting on a treadmill as fast as you can for around 2 minutes. Follow this with a heart rate reading and then rest for 2 complete minutes and take your heart rate again. To calculate your heart rate recovery rate you now subtract the two numbers.

Findings: (These recovery results were taken from Enhanced Medical Care).

• Less than 22: Your biological age is slightly older than your calendar age.
• 22-52: Your biological age is about the same as your calendar age.
• 53-58: Your biological age is slightly younger than your calendar age.
• 59-65: Your biological age is moderately younger than your calendar age.
• 66 or more: Your biological age is a lot younger than your calendar age.

The bottom line? The faster your heart rate returns to normal, the higher your level of fitness.

Medical research also supports this analysis of heart rate recovery. According to the New England Journal of Medicine, people whose heart rate recovery times are longer are at a higher risk of death than people with shorter recovery times, regardless of physical condition or other risk factors. Another study by the National Emergency Medicine Association found measuring heart rate recovery rates is one way to tell whether an exercise program is effective.

Flipper - off-spinning variation

 The last two seasons I've been playing at a much higher level than I ought to be playing in my opinion and I've had to adapt to the situation and change my bowling. So I've been bowling flippers coming in off a much longer run-up than I have ever done and it's worked for the most part. Only once have I been aware that anyone's sussed out what I've been doing and that was young bloke from one of the Southend teams who I heard say to his Dad 'He's bowling back-spinners' and he was taking me and everyone else to the cleaners.

I've kept it really simple, mostly I'm bowling cross-seamed with the occasional up-right seamed delivery. I vary the speeds and how much spin I put on the ball and rarely I try the one out of the front of the hand with a bit of off-spin, but I've found that rarely turns and if it does it's minimal. Recently at home I was thinking about the potential of the off-spinning variation and realised that it would probably work so much better with a lower arm angle. I bowl with a very upright arm and getting the wrist into an appropriate position to release a flipper with off-spin is tricky, but my initial experiments indoors seem to indicate that simply by lowering my arm may yield benefits. Another observation is that it still retains the back-spin aspect, so it does actually work it'll be an off-break with back-spin which is an unusual delivery. 

Knee situation 2021

 The knee saga...

Last spring probably did me a favour with the Covid situation, as it mean that there was no cricket till late June? So I had all of Spring and the early part of the summer basically doing rehab. Walking for most of the time interspersed with short bursts of running. By the time we got some cricket my knee felt fine. So good I didn't really know which knee had been giving me grief.

Since Sept 2020 though, I like a lot of people haven't been doing a great deal physically apart from some Yoga and stretching and upper body strength exercises focusing on arms and shoulders. Sitting around all the time though, I'm aware that this is a potentially a bad move with regards weakening the butt muscles and eventually that impacts on the knees. I do a fair bit of flexibility exercises and put my knees through a bit of a going over doing this and I'm aware that the left knee feels less flexible or potentially susceptible to future issues, but I'm hoping as we come out of the winter and lock-down this year I can start getting out and about and exercising in readiness for a new season.

Talking of which there seems to be some really good news. It seems that we've got 10 new adult players and they sound like they're all South Asian blokes, so that bodes well on so many fronts. In addition to that there's a big crop of younger players coming through this year as well. So many it seems, that we're definitely going to be able to field 4 teams for the first time in 3 or 4 years! Hopefully there's some batters among them because that's what we seem to be missing! Hopefully, I'll get to play in a team that suits my age and abilities rather than playing 2nd XI and 3rd XI cricket! I might actually get some wickets!