Hand and Eye Dominance in Sport: Are Cricket Batters Taught to Bat Back-to-Front?

Background: When first learning to bimanually use a tool to hit a target (e.g., when chopping wood or hitting a golf ball), most people assume a stance that is dictated by their dominant hand. By convention, this means that a ‘right-handed’ or ‘left-handed’ stance that places the dominant hand closer to the striking end of the tool is adopted in many sports. Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate whether the conventional stance used for bimanual hitting provides the best chance of developing expertise in that task. Methods: Our study included 43 professional (international/first-class) and 93 inexperienced (<5 years’ experience) cricket batsmen. We determined their batting stance (plus hand and eye dominance) to compare the proportion of batters who adopted a reversed stance when batting (that is, the opposite stance to that expected based on their handedness). Results: We found that cricket batsmen who adopted a reversed stance had a stunning advantage, with professional batsmen 7.1 times more likely to adopt a reversed stance than inexperienced batsmen, independent of whether they batted right or left handed or the position of their dominant eye. Conclusion: Findings imply that batsmen who adopt a conventional stance may inadvertently be batting ‘back-to-front’ and have a significant disadvantage in the game. Moreover, the results may generalize more widely, bringing into question the way in which other bimanual sporting actions are taught and performed

A rapid questionnaire assessment of environmental exposures to pregnant women in the INTERGROWTH-21st Project.

Impaired fetal growth and preterm birth are the leading causes of neonatal and infant mortality worldwide and there is a growing scientific literature suggesting that environmental exposures during pregnancy may play a causal role in these outcomes. Our purpose was to assess the environmental exposure of the Fetal Growth Longitudinal Study (FGLS) participants in the multinational INTERGROWTH-21(st) Project. First, we developed a tool that could be used internationally to screen pregnant women for such exposures and administered it in eight countries on a subsample (n = 987) of the FGLS participants. The FGLS is a study of fetal growth among healthy pregnant women living in relatively affluent areas, at low risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes and environmental exposures. We confirmed that most women were not exposed to major environmental hazards that could affect pregnancy outcomes according to the protocol's entry criteria. However, the instrument was able to identify some women that reported various environmental concerns in their homes such as peeling paint, high residential density (>1 person per room), presence of rodents or cockroaches (hence the use of pesticides), noise pollution and safety concerns. This screening tool was therefore useful for the purposes of the project and can be used to ascertain environmental exposures in studies in which the primary aim is not focused on environmental exposures. The instrument can be used to identify subpopulations for more in-depth assessment, (e.g. environmental and biological laboratory markers) to pinpoint areas requiring education, intervention or policy change