IMPORTANT: Whenever a player is injured, you should always consult a medical professional for correct diagnosis of the injury and recommend the most suitable treatment for recovery. Poor recovery can leave the player affected forever.
25% of athletes experience some sort of injury once a year. If, as a football coach, you want to warn your players or, as a player, you have suffered an injury while training or during a match, this article will help you identify the most common injuries that might affect a player.
Football injuries that mainly affect muscle tissue (,) are the most common in football. It should be realised that injuries are often influenced by bad habits in player routine.
What are the most common football injuries?
The most common football injuries are called “STRAINS”: tears / breaks, distension / elongation or pulled muscles.
These injuries cause damage to part of the muscle-tendon unit (muscle, tendon or joint / insertion) due to overuse (chronic strain) or excessive tension (acute strain).
How are muscle injuries classified?
Muscle injuries can be classified according to their severity: slight (1st degree), moderate (2nd degree) and severe (3rd degree) or according to the type of muscle injury.
Types of muscle injuries
There are two types of “strain” injuries:
1) Chronic “strain”: this is an injury that causes muscle fatigue and consequently muscle spasm due to shortage in blood supply to the muscle (ischaemia).
2) Acute “strain”: this is an injury resulting from violent force applied to the muscle. In this case, there are various types based on the amount of muscle fibres involved:
• Pulled muscle or fibrillar rupture or distension: this is the most common cause of an acute “strain”. The injury is caused by the rupture of certain microfibres following violent stretching of muscle fibres.
• Partial ruptures or tears: the injury is caused by various broken fibres.
• Total ruptures: the injury is caused by a complete muscle break. This type of injury is caused by internal trauma associated with a strong external impact.
How to prevent football injuries?
To know how to prevent injuries (,) we recommend that you read our article on invisible coaching in football. When an injury occurs, the best and most professional thing to do is consult a medical professional.
At H8S Fútbol, we strive to teach our players the best footballing habits to prevent injury while training and during a match.
