Do you play football? Watch out for knee injuries!

27 January 2020

Football is a sport in which the players of both teams have great contact with each other. This is the most important reason why players get injured. Knee injuries are the most common, right next to ankle injuries.

There are many causes for injuries. One of them is the quality of the sports field where players train. An uneven surface can lead to excessive strains on the muscles and ligaments, which are already heavily loaded. During the game, the players run with and without the ball - the average midfielder runs up to 11.2 kilometers during one game performing various activities, e.g. slides, jumps, sprints. Improperly selected sports shoes also increase the risk of injury due to the possibility of too high or too low friction.

Injuries usually affect flexion and extension muscles in the knee joint, and mainly they are caused by muscle imbalance of two antagonistic groups: the quadriceps and the sciatic-shin group. Their acceptable ratio is 2:1.

In footballers this ratio is disturbed. This is due to the risk of overloading the sciatic shin muscles, which consequently increases their tension and the risk of tearing or breaking - explains Mateusz Jenda, motor training coach at the Carolina Medical Center and football referee.

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The players often have injuries to the medial collateral ligament. Damage to the peroneal collateral ligament is rare. The most dangerous injuries to football players are injuries to the anterior cruciate ligament. This is because the ligament is most stressed when the quadriceps muscle is stronger than the sciatic-shin group. Mateusz Jenda notes that injuries within the anterior cruciate ligament occur during non-contact play, e.g. when changing direction, during landing after a jump or during dribbling, as well as in a contact game when one player attacks his opponent with his body.

People who play football most often have ruptures or tears of the meniscus, mainly medial. It usually occurs as a result of a collision of two competitors

How to prevent knee injuries?

Muscle flexibility should be improved. Injuries occur when the muscles are strong but not completely flexible. The second issue is maintaining an appropriate muscle strength ratio. It is important to do exercises that will prepare your knee joint for the effort you make during the training or game. Exercises aimed at preventing knee injuries are available on the YouTube channel. You are welcome to watch! Mateusz Jenda.