Preventing injuries in soccer

Soccer is one of the most dangerous sports there is as there’s lots of different injuries that can occur. While head injuries are what most people worry about, the majority of the injuries are to the lower half of the body. These injuries can occur to almost anywhere on the legs, ranging from toe to knee to hip. There are minor ones such as a muscle pull or twisted ankle. These typically keep a player off the field for a couple days, even weeks sometimes. It’s the major ones that are really scary and painful. Major injuries can range from are blowing out your knee (multiple ligament tears in a knee) to tearing a muscle or even a hip flexor. These injuries are devastating, and can keep a player off the field for months, even years if they come back too soon. These injuries, while terrible, are very preventable. They can be prevented by doing exercises that strengthen parts of the body and that support those muscles, ligaments, and tendons. Preventing an ACL tear is not as difficult as it may seem, but you have to be proactive, meaning you can’t wait until the injury happens. To prevent yourself from tearing a ligament in your knee, you have to strengthen your quads and hamstrings, but that’s not all. When you land from a jump, you have to bend at the knees and hips to reduce stress on the knee. Warming up before games and practices and staying in good condition year round are great for not only ACL or knee injuries, but for prevention of all lower extremity injuries.