Football is popular across the world and, like anyone who enjoys sport, you don’t want to pick up an injury.
Here are our top tips for prevention:
– Foam roll troubled areas (calves or quads) before your warm-up.
– Complete a good active warm up with progressive sprints. Start with some marches, lunges, squats, high knees and butt-kickers. Slow jog for 50m, then try to get faster every time (maybe 5 times).
– Stretch afterwards. Once the muscles are warmed up you can do some static hold for your calf, quads, hip flexor and hamstrings from 30 secs to 2 mins.
– Strength training is key for injury-prevention and improving performance!
Typically, 2-3 strength training sessions a week can decrease your risk of injury. Ideally you want to perform some exercises standing on 1 leg for 30 secs to 2 mins with a slight bend in the knee. You can even challenge yourself by moving your other leg out to the side or tossing a ball. This will work strengthening and ankle/ knee stability.
Some simple exercises include clams, squats and calf raises can also help.
If you’re unsure of how to progress exercises or unsure if form is correct, come to see our Sports Performance for an assessment to improve your movement and reduce your injury risk.
