Injuries for Male Soccer Players

Injuries become quite inevitable in the game of football as it is a contact sport. Sports injuries adversely affect a player’s career. Unfortunately, most injuries occur during matches.

Broadly, the injuries can be classified into two categories- Acute and cumulative. An acute injury occurs due to a sudden impact while the cumulative ones are a result of repetitive stress to a particular set of muscles, joints, or tendons.

The latter develops over a period of time whereas acute trauma occurs due to a fall, twist, or collision with another player.  

Top 6 Injuries for Male Soccer Players

Due to the nature of the sport, most mishaps occur in the lower extremities. There are definite trends for the kinds of injuries that male players are more likely to get.

Studies concluded that the following type of trauma was among the most encountered mishaps for footballers.  These are the injuries to the quadriceps and hamstring muscles, the heel, the foot, the ankle, and the knee. 

Here, we have listed the top 5 injuries for male soccer players. 

Ankle Sprain

Cause: Occurs when the foot gets twisted unnaturally beyond its normal range of motion.  This makes the ligaments around the ankle area stretch beyond the limit and tear, spraining the ankle.

Treatment: Usual line of treatment is RICE (rest, ice, compression, elevate) protocol. However, care should be taken to heal it thoroughly before resuming practice, preventing recurrent ankle sprains.  Consult a sports injury specialist to assess the severity and extent of the damage. 

Knee Injuries

This involves tears in ligaments that support the knee joint. It creates stress on the ACL or anterior cruciate ligament or meniscus.

Cause: There is plenty of kicking and running action during the game of football. Also, players suddenly stop & change direction. When the rotational stress on the ligament exceeds its capacity ( resilience), it tears or strains.  

Concussion

As player collisions are pretty common in football, concussion is a common injury that happens while playing matches. These mishaps seldom occur during practice though. 

Plantar Fasciitis:

Plantar Fasciitis is an inflammation of thick connecting tissues( ligaments) which connect the heel bone with the toes.

It causes pain in the heel and along the bottom of the foot which is most severe when you get up and put the feet on the ground.

Cause: It is a cumulative injury generally. Ice packs, orthotics, and massage include the line of treatment.

Sports Hernia

A sports hernia or the Groin pull is a muscle-tendon injury in the pelvic/ hip area. As the anatomy of this part is pretty complex, doctors generally club all injuries in this part of the body as Sports Hernia or Athletic Pubalgia

Cause: The muscles on the lower part of the pelvis and inner thigh get pulled beyond their stretching capacity. Usually happens while running, squatting, jumping, or changing direction abruptly.

“Usually when the players do not warm up before starting the game of soccer or do not perform a cool-down after playing, they become prone to injuries such as groin pull,” says Sports Injury specialist Dr. Tanveer Singh Bhutani. 

Warm-up and cool-down are very important in the high-energy & movement soccer game.

Hamstring Tendinopathy :

The set of muscles & tendons along the back of the thigh are the Hamstrings. They aid in the lifting or rotating of legs and bending the knees. Hamstring injuries include a pull or a tear.

Cause: hamstring pull occurs when a player overextends these sets of muscles and tissues in the hamstring. The tear or rupture is more severe and painful. It should be attended to immediately. 

 At Eva Hospital, Ludhiana, we believe that most injuries can be prevented in the game of soccer by diligently following the rules of the game. Sportspersons get hurt due to player contact in the majority of cases.

There are prohibitions on aggression, tackling (especially slide tackling), and charging, which should be stringently enforced. That way we can minimize sporting mishaps and trauma to a player and eventually the team.

 Contact Eva – Ortho Centre  Ludhiana for a consultation now.