When a player is hit on the hand by a cricket ball, the first reaction is to shake it off. Does this help?

Lucknow Super Giants’ Rishabh Pant plays a shot during the IPL 2025 cricket match between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Lucknow Super Giants, Lucknow, May 27, 2025.
| Photo Credit: PTI

Quickly shaking the hand may briefly feel better. But depending on how hard the ball has struck the hand, instinctively shaking it may or may not help.

A famous 1965 paper said this was because the jolt sends nerve signals to the spinal cord faster than the sharp-pain signals reach it, temporarily closing the ‘gate’ on the latter. But this gate-control theory has come to be disputed for various reasons. This said, research has found the jolting action may help the person distract themselves from the pain and believe they are doing something about it. 

Cricket balls are hard objects and on the field they can be travelling fast enough to cause severe injuries. Vigorous shaking is thus not advised because it could exacerbate bruising, small fractures in the finger bones, ligament tears or dislodge soft tissue that has already been damaged.

It may be better to stop shaking the hand and start first aid. In the event of a contusion, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons specifically states, “Do not massage the injured area.”

Instead it recommends the RICE protocol: Rest (“protect the injured area from further harm”), Ice (“use cold packs for 20 minutes at a time”), Compress (“lightly wrap the injured area in a soft bandage”), and Elevate (“raise the injured area to a level above the heart”).