Soccer, one of the most popular team sports in the world with over 200 million registered players worldwide, is a game of non stop action. Generally soccer is a safe and healthy form of exercise and competition for children. However, some precautions should be taken to maximize safety. Of the approximately 150,000 soccer related injuries that occur each year. Participants under the age of 15 results are 45% occur each year. Most injuries in soccer occur in the lower body, mostly to the knees and ankles. However, repeated or prolonged use (overuse) injuries are common problems, especially toward the end of a long and gruelling season. These injuries are the result of constant overloading and wearing down of a tendon (tissue connecting muscle to bone), muscle, bone or joint, resulting in the inability of that structure to perform its normal biomechanical duties. Injuries are a common occurrence in the sport at every level of play. Although not considered a contact sport, there is considerable physical contact and combined with the high physical demands of the sport, soccer injuries are inevitable. Did you realize that being first to the ball is the main cause of soccer injuries? And of course, this is something we encourage. We're going to look at causes, prevention and to reflect reality... treatment and recovery! Types of Injury There are many injuries that can occur in soccer, such as soft-tissue contusions, (bruises), knee injuries, and foot injuries. For these types of injuries there are things that can heal it. For heel or foot pains, inserts, placed in the soccer shoes may help. Other injuries are ankle injuries, fractures, and heading the ball. Children under 12 probably should not head the ball due to the injuries that can occur. The rate of injury in soccer has been reported to be between 15 and 20 injuries per 1000 hours of play. The rate is slightly higher for female players than male participants. Injuries range from a severe bruise to more traumatic type injuries (broken bones). Overuse injuries are responsible for almost 30% of the injuries in soccer and range from mild tendonitis (swelling of a tendon) all the way to a stress fracture. Symptoms Inflammation (swelling) is the most common sign of an overuse injury. The signs of inflammation are redness, warmth and swelling, pain with movement, pain to deep touch, and a grinding feeling over the muscle as it is moved. One or all of these signs may be present. In the early stages, players may feel an aching pain after practice. As the injury gets worse, the pain will occur during practice or games with increasing pains as an attempt is made to maintain a high level of performance. General prevention tips As with any sport, a good warm-up is important to an injury-free soccer experience. Preventing soccer injuries can be little tricky, especially if you are new to soccer. Players should be aware of their physical condition. Even seemingly minor injuries should be treated appropriately. Injuries tend to increase as players fatigue, so adequate rest is essential. Players should also warm-up and stretch prior to any practice or game, and warm-down and stretch afterwards. The most important thing is that you must be properly dressed with soccer uniform and must use comfortable and sweat absorbent soccer jerseys which are advanced wicking fabric technologies that extract moisture from the skin to the fabric's outer surface where it quickly evaporates, regulating body temperature. However, in this article I will give you a few of tips on what you can do in order to protect yourself better. Now, let’s check out the tips†â€Stretching; focus particularly on the lower body and hips, and don't forget to stretch your neck gently. You could also stretch in the shower but I would not recommend this as first choice because you could fall and hurt yourself. So be careful if you really want to stretch in the shower â€Passing; Begin with short distance passing, then move gradually into longer distance drives. â€Shooting; Work up from lighter, shorter shots on net to harder shots. â€Sprinting; Include a few short distance sprints. â€Listen to your body; If you feel tired don’t practice. Take a day off instead. This will help you recover and you will also be able to perform better on next practice. â€Proper warm ups; This will raise your body temperature and prepare it for physical activity. By warming up you simply tell your body to get ready for hard physical activity. â€Use proper cleats: Always wear shin guards whether you are playing with your friends or in a regular competition. It is hard to avoid all type of soccer injuries. Soon or later you will unfortunately get injured. But don’t let an injury discourage you. If you have a bone fracture in your foot for example you will not be able to kick a ball. But you could do exercises to get stronger stomach muscles. Some injuries in soccer are just bad luck and you have to accept it.
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