If you play footy whether it is recreationally or competitively you have either experienced some sort of lower limb injury, or at least know of someone
who has. With the stress of the constant
sprinting, jumping, tackling and zig zagging the injury could be a due to repetitive trauma over an extended period of time or singular incident of direct trauma – look at Dane Swan, he’s had his career ended thanks to a foot injury. Thus, preventing foot injuries are key to making sure you have long and successful footy years.
Here 5 tips to make sure you avoid them:
Adequate warm up before training
If you feel at all sore or a little tight before training one of the worst things you can do, because you’re running late after work, is jump into training and hope for the best. The reason you feel tight and sore is because the muscle is cold and taught, therefore if you put too much movement through it before its adequately stretched and warmed up, you’ll most likely cause damage to that Achilles, Hammy or Quad that’s been niggling you a bit and… bye bye grand final.
Rehabilitation
If you’ve had an injury in the past, you’ve most likely not rehabilitated it to its pre injury state. A lot of the “she’ll be right mate” attitude has lead to a significant reoccurrence of injuries in footy players. For example if you’ve had an ankle injury in the past, according to statistics, you’re 40-70% more likely to re-sprain it in comparison to someone who hasn’t. That’s why rehabilitation is key to focus on joint range of motion, strength, agility and balance – to not just fix the current issue, but to prevent the current injury leading to compensation and other injuries.
Strength and Conditioning:
Most of us are unfortunately not as strong or as conditioned as Boomer Harvey to knockout that many games relatively injury free. If you’ve got muscle imbalances leading to poor function, you’re most likely going to, or already have, developed an overuse injury. Poor balance, joint restrictions and muscle imbalance could be the cause of it, that’s why a thorough assessment to determine where you’re lacking is important to either prevent future injuries or assist in current ones.
Footwear
The amount of foot issues directly related to poor or incorrect footwear is more than it should be. Being educated about the right shoes, boots or cleats is vital in preventing lower limb pathologies. If you start feeling niggles in around your body and you’ve recently changed shoes, or on the contrary haven’t changed shoes in a long time, you’re most likely giving yourself an issue that is easily preventable.
Foot Function
Foot function and biomechanics is a key determinant in how many games you’ll be playing over your footy lifespan. If you’re getting pain anywhere in your feet, ankle, knees or even lower back – it may be all stemming from the way your feet move. With not a single pair of feet being the same – an in depth look at your foot function is key to determine why you’re either getting pain in the aforementioned areas.
There you have it! A few great tips to prevent injuries in the sport we all love and cherish so much.
by Carl Joyce – Podiatrist at Melbourne Podiatry Clinic