The key isn’t to heal from an injury and hope it doesn’t come back, it’s to use soccer injury prevention gear so injuries don’t happen in the first place. If you love a sport, or even if it’s a career for you, there’s no sense in risking your ability to play by not being aware of the risks and not wearing soccer safety gear. Small injuries can have lasting effects. Big injuries can end your career.
Preventable injuries that can affect the rest of your soccer career
Shin splints
Like many injuries, the initial injury can be healed, or might not even be painful or prohibiting. However, most smaller injuries players ignore, or heal from and continue to get, can turn into long-term problems that get worse until the sport can’t be played anymore.
Shin splints are one of the most common afflictions for soccer players. They develop with strain on the shin bone and its surrounding tissues and ligaments. At first, shin splints can be healed with rest and ice. But if a player keeps getting shin splints, it can become a permanent injury, or at least an injury that’s around enough the player can no longer play consistently.
To prevent shin splints, wear the right cleats that provide support to the ankle, don’t overuse the muscles, wear shin guards to protect the shin bone from impact, and maintain a proper warm-up and cold-down regimen.
Repeat concussions
Once a player has received one concussion, they’re more likely to receive another. Concussions are one of the most dangerous injuries to get during soccer. Shin splints stay in the leg, for example, but any injury that affects the head, neck, and brain, can subsequently affect the entire body.
Instead of risking concussion, use soccer impact protection tools like headgear. The Storelli ExoShield has been proven to reduce concussion rates in players wearing them. If a concussion has already occurred, headgear will provide extra protection.
Usually, if a player receives a concussion, they won’t be able to play again until they’re fully healed. After multiple concussions, they won’t be able to play at all because the risks become too great.
Broken or sprained ankles
There are plenty of soccer players whose careers either took a long hiatus or ended due to broken bones. The majority of soccer injuries are situated in the lower half of the body, from hips to feet. While a sprained or broken ankle can heal completely with a cast and time, this isn’t always the case. Even fully healed players can have weaker ligaments and bones following the injury.
Not only will ankle injuries take time out of a player’s season, but it either makes future injuries more likely, or leads to permanent damage, like soreness, weakness, or other more serious issues. This is especially true as players get older; it just takes longer to heal and generally more issues arise.
Avoid ankle injuries altogether by playing in supportive, well-fitting cleats, wearing the right shin guards for your position, warming and cooling the body properly, and practicing proper passing, dribbling, and running techniques.
Knee injuries
Along with ankle injuries, there’s a strong likelihood of knee injuries with the running, jumping, and twisting movements involved in soccer. The knee isn’t made to bend and twist in all directions, which sometimes happens when playing. This leads to breaks, strains, or tears in the ligaments. And like ankle injuries, knees don’t always revert to the perfect form they started in.
Because knees are a connecting joint between the upper and lower sections of the leg, they have a huge impact on the mobility of a player. If the knee is injured, players can’t move the way they used to. They can take a long time to heal and can lead to other, permanent injuries. It’s still possible that the knee heals perfectly, but there’s always the chance it will leave a hint of the injury afterward, like mobility issues.
Protect your knees by practicing play style during training hours and applying safe techniques to games. Also wear compression gear to help with blood flow and dynamic movements, and leave the body time to recover after every game.
Get all the soccer safety gear you need at Storelli to play safely for years to come.
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