Case for a physio for West Indies team

One of the Caribbean's leading sports medicine officials says it is uncommon for a sports team to experience the high number of injuries that have plagued the West Indies team in Zimbabwe during the last two weeks.

Dr Adrian Lorde is suggesting that a full-time physiotherapist should be part of the team's set-up.

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), however, utilises the services of a sports therapist only.

Lorde's comments follow the West Indies' recent injury woes that prematurely ended the tour of champion batsman Brian Lara and fast bowlers Kerry Jeremy, Cameron Cuffy and Mervyn Dillon.

There is definitely a need for a physiotherapist as opposed to someone who is not trained and has the equipment to treat these injuries, Lorde told NATIONSPORT yesterday.

I think the WICB had accepted that they were going to take a physio, but we didn't hear anything more about it.

Last February, the WICB appointed Trinidadian Ronald Rogers as the team's sports therapist on a tour-by-tour basis and it led to immediate opposition from the Barbados Sports Medicine Association. A sports therapist, it is believed, is not qualified to handle injury prevention and management and is used mainly as a fitness trainer.

The physiotherapist can conduct training sessions, but the sports therapist can't treat injuries when they occur, said Lorde, a former president of the Barbados Sports Medicine Association.

The physiotherapist, because of his better knowledge of the anatomy of the body might be able to look at the range of movement of one's joints and maybe recommend to the management team and to the cricketer better ways in which to do certain things.

Since the West Indies left the Caribbean in mid-June following a strenuous two-week training camp in Trinidad, the team was hit by Lara's recurring hamstring problem, Jeremy's back strain, Cuffy's stress fracture of the left instep and Dillon's right knee problem.

It is unusual for any sporting team particularly in a cricket team to have so many injuries in such a short space of time, Lorde said.

He, however, added that from this distance, it would be difficult to say what caused the injuries.

It could be a combination of factors, including the climatic conditions in the African nation where it is winter.

Maybe lack of proper warming up and inactivity on the field and then sudden activity could cause muscles to be injured easily, Lorde said.

He added that a physiotherapist, who usually goes through a three-year course of study, could have helped in managing the nature of the West Indies team's injuries in Zimbabwe.