Knee joint position sense does not correlate with front knee angles or ball release speed in cricket fast bowlers

Aim. The aim of this study was to establish if knee joint position sense in functional and pre-defined angles is related to ball release speed. Methods. Twenty one healthy male cricket fast bowlers participated in this study. The ability of each bowler to reproduce pre-defined knee angles of 140° and 160° of knee extension was assessed. In addition, in a subsample of 11 bowlers, elecrogoniometery was used to determine the angles of the knee at ball release and at front foot placement. Electrogoniometery was also used to assess the ability of this subsample of subjects to reproduce these bowling specific knee angles. Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to determine the relationship joint reposition error in these four positions and ball release speed (significance p<0.05). Results. There was no statistically significant relationship between knee joint reposition error in the pre-defined (n=21) or bowling specific (n=11) knee angles and ball release speed. The ability of bowlers to reposition their knee angles were also not related to the measured knee angles at ball release or front foot placement. Conclusion. It is likely that static knee joint position sense is not a major predictor of the dynamic knee angle during the bowling action, or of ball release speed in a homogenous group of competitive bowlers. Although other mechanisms, which are known to operate dynamically, may contribute to knee angles and bowling speeds, it is possible that leg specific proprioception does not play a major role in determining knee angles and bowling speeds.