Photo by Keith Johnston
Football is the beautiful game. It’s fun, it’s fast and it’s exciting. However, the pitch can prove to be a dangerous place. You just have to look at how many professional players get injured and miss large chunks of the season (anyone remember Darren Anderton!).
So, how is it possible to avoid getting injured when you dive in for a tackle or try to skip passed an opponent? Here, we’ve outlined the most prevalent injuries that can see you out of action for several games and detail how you can work to reduce the risk for an all-round safer and better on-pitch performance…
Ruptured anterior cruciate ligament (ACL)
Your knee is kept stable by four ligaments, including your ACL. However, it’s often damaged by the twisting and turning of the leg, which means it’s a common injury for football players. If you hurt your ACL, it’ll be painful and you’ll likely see swelling around the area. But before then, you may hear and feel it pop or snap…
To avoid injuring your ACL, try to build up strength in the muscles surrounding your knee, including your hamstrings and quadriceps. According to HSS, Hospital for Special Surgery, you should do plenty of leg exercises like squats and walking lunges. Having good balance — or proprioception — is vital if you want to avoid injuring your ACL too, so practice standing on one leg (30 seconds on each) regularly to boost your stability. These exercises also help prevent injuries to your menisci, which are cartilages that protect the knee joint.
Pulled or torn hamstring
The muscle at the back of your thigh which runs from the hip to the knee is your hamstring.. As your legs are crucial parts of a football match, sometimes your hamstring muscles can overstretch, resulting in pain at the back of the leg, as well as potentially bruising and swelling. If you tear your hamstring, you could be out of action for a long while, however, if you simply pull your hamstring, you should be fine to continue.
If you tear your hamstring, you’ll notice a lot of swelling, bruising and be in a significant amount of pain. Reportedly, people with existing back issues are more susceptible to strained hamstrings, so to avoid this injury, loosen your back with exercises such as lumbar rotation stretches (lying on the floor and rolling your knees from side to side). Basic glute stretches will ease muscles around your hips, while yoga will help you stay flexible, which will lower the risk of hamstring strain. Squats, lunges and hamstring kicks are also great preventative exercises, as they work to strengthen the hamstring muscles.
The Nordic ham curl is one of the best exercises to help you avoid a hamstring injury — here’s how to do it:
- Kneel on the floor.
- Hook your feet under something sturdy and heavy that can take your weight or ask a partner to hold your feet to act as an anchor.
- Breathe deeply, engage your core and slowly lower yourself to the ground, using your hamstrings to keep your body straight.
- After reaching the ground, push yourself up and repeat.
Sprained ankle
A sprained ankle means you’ve damaged the soft tissue in the ligaments in this part of your foot. According to the CSP (Chartered Society of Physiotherapy), approximately 70-85% of these injuries are ‘inversion’ sprains, which means the ankle has been turned inwards — common when tackling and dribbling the ball.
If you’re looking to reduce the risk of a sprained ankle, try and do these exercises three times a week:
- Ankle circles (both clockwise and anti-clockwise).
- Calf raises.
- Shin raises (lifting your toes, rather than your heels, off the ground).
Strained groin
By stretching for the ball, you are at risk of injuring your groin. When you’re stretching to reach the ball, you run the risk of injuring your groin. If you strain your groin, you’ve basically over-extended your abductor muscles, found in your inner thigh. A slight strain will often cause some pain, however, serious groin strain injuries can impede on your ability to walk and run, which is a serious flaw for a football player.
You must complete a thorough warm-up to best avoid straining your groin. Make sure you stretch your inner and outer thigh muscles daily and see if you can also get regular sports therapy or massage treatments to keep these muscles flexible. A strong core enhances pelvic stability, which will also reduce the chance of groin strains, so do plenty of planks and crunches as part of your basic workout routine. Resistance bands are also very handy for strengthening your inner thigh muscles and preventing groin strain.<.p>
How to prepare before a match
If you suddenly use your muscles to dodge tackles or any other activity, you are heightening the risk of strains and injuries. According to a scientific study, taking part in a structured warm-up is effective at stopping players from suffering common football injuries and can reportedly even lower these by approximately 33%.
The best way to hopefully avoid an injury is to ensure you stretch and carry out short, cardiovascular exercises to get blood flowing to your muscles before every match. Here’s a top warm-up session to help you prepare your tendons, ligaments and muscles for a good performance:
- 5 minutes: jogging and side-stepping to boost your core temperature.
- 15 minutes: stretching, focusing on your quads, glutes, hamstrings, inner thighs, lower back, calves, Achilles tendon, and hip flexors. You should hold your stretch for ten seconds every time.
- 10 minutes: mimicking football movements without a ball including high kicks, squats, jumps, and side-foot passes.
- 10 minutes: practicing shooting, heading, passing, and dribbling as a team with a football.
If you are a footballer, you must maintain a decent diet to keep fitness levels at a good level. Eat plenty of protein and carbohydrates — including eggs, whole-wheat pasta, brown rice, turkey and salmon — to build muscle and deliver energy. Also, lower your alcohol intake — it dehydrates you and leaves your muscles more susceptible to cramping and injury.
You could also incorporate nutritional supplements to help prevent injury, aid recovery and improve performance. For example, pycnogenol can help maintain healthy heart circulation, while Omega 3 may protect your tissues from damage and vitamin C could alleviate muscle soreness.
Take all these tips into consideration during your football regime to ensure you don’t miss out on any key practices and crucial games this season.
