Back pain is surprisingly common. Yet in many cases it can be reversed easily, so why suffer?

My job involves a lot of sitting down: writing and travelling are big parts of my life. Combined with regular years of playing/coaching and a body in the 30's and you get a high risk of back trouble. It's true I have had the odd bout of taking anti-inflammatory pills for an ache over the years, but in recent times I have learned some simple ways to prevent it.

Its cricket fitness special this week as I interview Glamorgan CCC Strength and Conditioning coach Rob Ahmun.

We cover a wide range of performance enhancing and injury prevention tips for cricketers of all levels including:

Since I posted version 2 of the miCoach cricket fitness plan, a few questions have come up, mostly via email. I want to answer those questions today.

If you are using the plan and need to understand a little more about it you can leave your question here. I'll answer anything you need to know.

miCoach reader and cricketer is a 14 year old all rounder who has already played for the UAE Under 15's, Young Talent Cricket Academy and Talent Cricket Club. In the future he plans on a long and illustrious International career. Follow his progress here.

You probably under-appreciate your feet.

During a hard game you can be on them for 2-3 hours at a time, working with your ankles and legs to keep you upright, balanced and performing to your best. Every step you run generates a force that is 2.5x your body weight through your foot. If you are a fast bowler the impact at the point of delivery jumps up to 9x.

They take a lot. Yet many players give only short consideration to the boots they wear.

Are you a cramper? If you have ever cramped up on the cricket pitch you know how annoyingly distracting the pain can be from batting, bowling and fielding.

From experience I know it can put you off enough to get you out or prevent you from bowling.

Sports scientists know a lot about how cricketers get injured, but oddly there is no study on the prevention of injury.

That's left up to the coaches and players themselves.

You could turn to a gym to organise an injury prevention training plan, but often commercial gyms have little understanding of the needs of cricketers.

It sounds like one of those crazy fad diets, but body type training is grounded in science and growing in popularity.

Until we have genetic profiling, it's the best we can manage for personalised eating and training for cricket. You see you will react to different foods and training methods in different ways depending on your body type.

It makes sense to be fast.

The quicker you can run the more singles you can steal (or save in the field). The faster your arm moves when fast bowling, the quicker the ball comes out. The faster your bat moves through the strike zone the better you time the ball.

Acceleration is useless without technique, but when the two are combined you become a significantly more formidable player.

Planning your cricket fitness training is a difficult balance.

On one hand you know the benefits of strength, speed and endurance on your game. On the other hand you don't want to waste time training elements that have little crossover to the cricket pitch.

That's where the miCoach Cricket Fitness Plan comes in.