Football is currently dominating both around the globe and in NZ. It requires a vast amount strength, speed, agility, balance, stamina and technical ability. Therefore, football carries a significant risk of injuries for the weekend warriors to the elite. We all know how frustrating it can be when sustaining an injury and nothing is worse than sitting on the sideline and watching your team play. Therefore, we need to be efficient and sensible when dealing with injuries not only to manage the current injury but work on injury prevention to reduce recurrence so you can get back on the pitch maximizing your full potential.
There are two types of injuries that can be sustained in football.
Traumatic injuries: These injuries are a result of a single traumatic event and result in damage to the tissue immediately. Common injuries include:
- Minor-major ankle/knee sprains
- Achillies tendon tears/ruptures
- Fractures
- Turf toe (hyperextension of the toe)
Overuse injuries: These injuries are a lot more common and are sustained when there is repetitive micro trauma to the tissues. If you sustain micro trauma to the tissues and continue to play it doesn’t allow the body to have enough time to heal, therefore creating more damage. Common injuries include:
- Plantar heel pain
- Medial tibial stress syndrome (shin splints)
- Achillies tendinopathy
- Patella femoral pain syndrome
- Sesamoiditis
- Chronic ankle instability
- Peroneal tendinopathy
Football injuries are associated with both non-modifiable and modifiable factors, such as sex, age, biomechanical anomalies, muscle weakness, poor postural stability, poor warm ups and cool downs, and footwear.
At Resonance Podiatry, we provide a variety of different treatment options tailored to each footballer to speed up the healing process. Additionally, not only do we treat the injury but we also focus on identifying modifiable factors and addressing them to reduce risk of injury in the future. Treatment modalities include; orthotics, footwear advice, joint mobilization, gait retraining, deep tissue massage, dry needling, retraining sensory feedback in the lower limb, and strengthening/stretching exercises specific to football.
Here at Resonance we understand the frustration of sustaining an injury, therefore we are dedicated to designing you an efficient personalized management program getting you back on the pitch quickly and proficiently.
Article by Resonance Podiatrist Hannah Carlsen
Read more about Hannah here on our website.
Cover image credit: Mark Shipley http://www.gsfdcy.com/
