Soccer Injuries

Soccer Injuries
cardiovascular fitness is your bag, then soccer is your sport. You are on the move almost constantly, whether walking, jogging, or sprinting. During the course of a 90-minute game, you may run as much as five miles. Soccer depends on strength and agility in the lower body, particularly since you are not allowed to touch the ball with your hands, except on a throw-in. And due to lack of extensive protective gear, leg injuries from rough play are highly likely, as well as from fatigue.

Studies show that females are twice as likely to get injured than males in soccer, with a ratio of female to male injury rate ratios of 1.1 to 0.51 and 32 to 14 per 1000 hours of participation. Female players are more likely to sustain a serious injury than are male players, particularly ACL and patellofemoral joint injuries. This information, coupled with the large increase in female participation in sports over recent decades, demands that more attention be put on injuries to female athletes.

Like athletes in any other contact sport, soccer players suffer from ACL tears, ankle sprains, and groin injuries and hernias, but soccer’s most noted injury is the stress fracture, commonly in the foot’s metatarsal bones. Common lower extremity areas involve the hamstring and calf muscles. Soccer needs a lot of strength, agility, and fitness pushing muscle to the point of injury with excessive fatigue. The ability to withstand sometimes violent collisions also can come into play and reak havoc with the body.

Common Soccer Injuries—ACL – Anterior Cruciate Ligament • Ankle Sprains • Bruises and Hematomas • Calf Strains • Groin Pulls • Hamstring Injuries • Stress Fractures

Affected Areas— Foot/Ankle • Knee • Groin • Hamstring • Head