Safeguarding the Game: Enhancing Injury Prevention in Football

Football is the most popular sport in the UK, 71% crown it as the most dangerous receiving the highest sport injuries with impacts that go beyond the immediate pain and discomfort, leading to significant time off requiring extensive rehabilitation.

For professional athletes, a severe injury can even be career-ending. In addition to the physical toll, sports injuries can also have significant psychological effects with athletes often experiencing emotional distress, anxiety, and depression following an injury.

“Approximately 2 million people end up in Accident & Emergency departments each year due to sports injuries in the UK. Prevention is always better than cure when it comes to sports injuries.” - NHS.

Dr Naveen Bhadauria, Consultant Rheumatologist at North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust: “Sports injuries impact millions of people each year and have significant physical, psychological, and economic implications for the injured individuals and society as a whole.

Therefore, there is a need for ongoing efforts in injury prevention and education to ensure that everyone can enjoy sports and physical activities safely and healthily.”

With muscle injury the most common type now constituting 55% of all time-loss injuries and causes more than half of all absence days from football activities. From sprains to strains and fractures we share the most common football injury findings research:

Medical Collateral Ligament (MCL)

MCL injuries account for 40% of knee ligament injuries occur when the knee is directly hit on its outer side, which often occurs in a football tackle or as a result of quick turns or when a player forcefully shifts direction after putting their foot down. Not all require operative treatment to reconstruct, dependent on the grading from a radiologist report on the severity of the MCL injury.

Heel /Achilles Tendon overload

The Achilles tendon is a strong fibrous cord that connects the muscles in the back of your calf to your heel bone. If you overstretch your Achilles tendon, it can tear (rupture) completely or just partially.

This injury affects the back of your lower leg. It mainly occurs in people playing recreational sports, but it can happen to anyone. If your Achilles tendon ruptures, you might hear a pop, followed by an immediate sharp pain in the back of your ankle and lower leg that is likely to affect your ability to walk properly.

Surgery is often performed to repair the rupture. For many people, however, nonsurgical treatment works just as well.

Complex Bone Fracture

Traumatic injury involving multiple breaks in a bone and damaged soft tissue. Symptoms include extreme pain, numbness, sometimes visibly protruding bone. One prevalent injury in runners with poor technique is the fracture of external foot bones, most commonly the fifth metatarsal.

Foot Damage

Arch overload and flattening are observations due to the foot landing in an outward position, tending to place excessive load on the internal aspect of the knee, ankle and arch of the foot. The angulation of the foot in relation to the direction of movement aligns with characteristics seen in conditions like plantar fasciitis or pain in the arch.

The load on the foot is determined by the interplay of factors such as the contact area, time spent on the ground, step frequency, body weight, and the height of the running parabola. Blisters, black toes (hematomas) and calluses are also possibly indicators of overload and foot stress.

Hamstring Strains

Of all muscle groups, hamstring injuries are the most frequent and single most burdensome injury in male professional football, previously reported to constitute 12-17% of all time-loss injuries and are the most common injury to reoccur amongst footballers.

Pulled hamstring injuries occur when one or more of these muscles gets stretched too far and starts to tear. Injuries can be anything from mild, with little pain and a short recovery time to severe requiring surgery requiring extensive rehabilitation.

Shin Splints

Shin splints refer to the pain and tenderness along or just behind the large bone in the lower leg. They develop after hard exercise, sports, or repetitive activity. Shin splints cause pain on the front or outside of the shins or on the inside of the lower leg above the ankle.

Torn ACL

The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of the major knee ligaments that is essential to leg movement and knee stability. A partial or complete ACL tear (rupture) often occurs during a sudden twisting movement, in which a person stops quickly and changes direction, especially while pivoting or landing after a jump. A sudden, high-energy impact to the knee can also cause the ACL to tear.

Research data indicates women are between 2-6 times more likely to experience ACL injury than male players. Injury reduction programmes exist but the implementation of these has yet to be evaluated in professional women’s football.

Three-year study to reduce ACL injuries in women’s soccer launches

Nike and FIFPRO, the membership body of global soccer unions, are among the parties to launch Project ACL, a three-year research study to reduce Anterior Cruciate Ligament ACL injuries in women’s football.

The partners of 'Project ACL' will work proactively with clubs and players in the FA Women’s Super League (FA WSL) to better understand their current working environment, identify best practice and provide solutions to support the reduction of ACL injuries.

Read more here: https://www.fifpro.org/en/supporting-players/health-and-perf...

Stephen Makinde, osteopath and NLP practitioner: "Whilst football is a contact sport and injuries may not be preventable it’s important to not only consider mechanical recovery when it comes to injury recovery.

Having a 360-degree approach and dealing with the trauma associated with the injury and the impending recovery or outcome can be just as important. Coupled with dealing with the nutrition needed to help fuel the body in its recovery process can make huge impacts on life-changing injuries.

Having a very specific and personalised not generic textbook approach can make a big difference. Despite evidence base being key in the application of a technical aspect there’s a lot of diagnostic clinical decision-making needed to get the very best results for injuries.

It's time for medicine to evolve and really enhance the healing powers of a medical approach alongside nature's infinite wisdom. I am passionate about making a change in the hope that the doctor of the future will harness both science and nature."

The importance of Career ending insurance cover

Whilst the risk of injury and illness may be unavoidable, its financial impact can be significantly mitigated with the proper planning and the correct cover. A player’s contract determines how long their club is obliged to pay their salary after they sustain a serious or career ending injury.

This timeframe is governed by the contract and a country’s legislation, which varies from one country to another. If the worst happens to a player, their club can terminate their contract and, in some cases, stop paying their salary after six months.

Having a personal accident and illness policy can therefore safeguard a player’s financial future should the unthinkable happen.

As long serving business partners of the PFA, Pro-Secure is the only football insurance recommended and endorsed by the PFA protecting careers and ensuring financial stability.

Pro-Secure policies cover career-ending injuries, safeguarding professional players against the financial impact of unexpected accidents, on and off the pitch.

www.pro-secure.eu

See more from Dr Naveen Bhadauria - www.privatelondonrheumatologist.com

See more from The Oak Practice - www.theoakpractice.co.uk