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Australian captain Michael Clarke is having urgent medical treatment after another flare-up of his long-term back injury.
Clarke was forced to retire hurt while batting against India on Tuesday’s opening day of the first Test in Adelaide.
Clarke overcame a torn hamstring suffered on November 14 to be declared fit for the Test.
He appeared untroubled by that injury throughout a stylish innings, making 60 in 84 minutes before his back failed him.
Clarke instantly grimaced after ducking inside an Ishant Sharma bouncer which sailed down the leg side.
The 33-year-old then sank to his knees as team medicos raced on to the field.
Clarke attempted to loosen his back with some stretches but, after signalling he was having trouble turning his upper body, retired hurt.
Cricket Australia has released the following words on Clarke’s condition.
“Clarke hurt his lower back while batting and is in considerable pain. He left the ground for further assessment and we hope to provide an update post play.”
The flare-up is the latest for Clarke who was first diagnosed with a degenerative back condition as a teenager.
Clarke has has three degenerative discs in his lower back.
“I had my first scan at 17 that said I had degeneration in my disc,” Clarke told reporters last year.
“I have been able to manage it this long, I don’t see any reason why I can’t continue to manage it for the rest of my career.
“It’s a combination of things, my back gets irritated when I’m in flexion and I rotate.
“Sometimes with degeneration of the disc, it can flare up.”
Clarke undergoes continuous core strengthening exercises to ease the condition and has used a machine designed by the former personal trainer of Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Clarke has said the MedX machine, designed by Arthur Jones, is vital to being able to continue his cricket career.
“It is a matter of life and death for my career,” Clarke wrote in his Ashes Diary released last year.
“The sessions with my physio … on his MedX machine I regard as ‘money in the bank’.
“I sit in position in the machine while it stretches me to full flexion and full extension.
“Every second I spend there is strengthening me.
“The machine weighs too much to take around the world with me so I have to make the most of it when I am home.”
With AAP’s Steve Larkin
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