Appraising Pulmonary Function and Hand Grip Strength in Cricket Players

Background Cricket has emerged as the most popular sport not only in India but also worldwide, with events such as the T20 World Cup, IPL, and Champions Trophy greatly boosting it as a global sport. It is set to feature in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Cricket's diasporic formats and extremely exhausting play intensities make it a highly physically demanding game requiring exceptional aerobic fitness, muscular endurance, and stamina. Hand grip strength (HGS), an indicator of muscular function, and pulmonary function tests (PFTs), providing qualitative and quantitative evaluation of respiratory efficiency, could prove to be very useful in estimating the overall fitness of a cricketer. As there is limited research on the correlation between pulmonary function and HGS in male cricket players, the present study aimed to explore these parameters and evaluate their relationship. Methodology This cross-sectional study was performed over two months in the Sports Physiology Lab of a rural medical college in central India. The study participants were 90 participants, including 30 male cricketers and 60 age-matched controls aged between 17 and 25 years, selected using a convenience sampling technique. Only healthy male cricketers who gave informed consent for participation in the study, and who practised for the last three years, two to three hours daily for six days a week, were included as cases. Pulmonary functions were evaluated using the MIR Spirolab III Diagnostic Spirometer, and HGS was explored using the Grip Force Transducer. Results The mean age of the cases was 21.50 ± 1.06 years, and of the controls was 21.31 ± 0.81 years. The difference between study groups with respect to age, height, weight, body mass index (BMI), or blood pressure was not statistically significant. Cricketers showed significantly lower respiratory rate (p < 0.001) and better PFT parameters, with forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expired volume in one second (FEV₁), average forced expiratory flow rate over the middle 50% of the FVC (FEF25-75%), FEV₁/FVC, and peak expiratory flow rate showing better lung function in comparison to controls. Both mean and maximum HGS were also higher in cricketers, with statistical significance. Resting heart rate was lower among cricketers (p = 0.04). Correlation analysis depicted positive but statistically non-significant relationships between pulmonary parameters (FVC, FEF25-75%) and HGS in cricketers. Conclusions Cricketers exhibited higher spirometric parameters and better grip strength, reflecting enhanced overall physical fitness in comparison to controls, as demonstrated by a positive association between HGS and PFT indices.