How Your Team Can Prevent Running Injuries

At least half of all runners injure themselves each year. Whether it be falls, trauma, or overuse, athletes constantly suffer unnecessary injuries on and off the soccer field.

Luckily, you can prevent most twists, strains, sprains and tears by conditioning, resting and practicing good form. Incorporating techniques, methods and tools to avoid injury will ultimately help players train harder, play better and stay off the bench.

1. Condition

Coaches and players know better than anyone that soccer requires both a level of strength and endurance. Everyone on the team must be in peak physical condition to play well and avoid injury.

Therefore, practices must include both aerobic and anaerobic exercises. Focus on cardio and resistance training to protect muscles from strain in the calves, hamstrings, quadriceps and groin. 

2. Focus on Mobility

Soccer players and their coaches must also focus on mobility. Just 15 minutes of mobility warm-up work will help players minimize physical limitations, allowing them to move their body freely.

Mobility exercises may include a few minutes of foam rolling before practice, active stretches, muscle contractions, joint mobilizations and myofascial techniques. Ultimately these movements will optimize range of motion and reduce the risk of injuries like pulls and strains.

3. Practice Consistent Form

Every good coach knows that proper form is key to winning games, especially in soccer. If teammates don’t practice good form, they’ll overwork some muscles and underwork others.

Eventually, this imbalance will impact their performance and leave them more susceptible to repetitive strain injuries, which make up about 80% of running injuries. Focus on core and leg strength to improve stability and encourage consistent form.

4. Warm Up

Of course, warming up before practice and before games can prevent running injuries, too. Typically, the best soccer warm-ups involve kicking and light jogging to increase blood flow to the legs and loosen up tight muscles.

Incorporate dynamic stretches — opposed to static stretches — to prepare your body for the many movements it’ll make on the field. If it’s cold outside, players might also wear long sleeves and compression socks or leggings to keep their muscles warm.

5. Use Tape and Braces

Repetitive strain injuries may occur suddenly or develop over a long period of time. While strength training and good form can minimize both types of injuries, ankle tape and braces may further improve stability.

Many soccer players will use athletic tape to cause contractions and stabilize ankle and knee joints. However, you can also use kinesiology tape to provide support without hindering range of motion. Encourage players to practice with tape, so their bodies are accustomed to it before games.

6. Avoid Uneven Ground

Practicing and playing on your home field automatically minimizes the risk of running injuries because players know where all the uneven spots are. Better yet, they learn to avoid these holes, dips and little mounds in the ground.

However, when you play on an opponent’s field, twists, sprains and tears are a real end ever-present danger. Inspect the field before play and caution players of uneven ground. You may even postpone if the earth is too bumpy and unsafe.

7. Hydrate

Athletes can lose multiple liters of sweat per game, which can quickly lead to dehydration if they aren’t drinking enough water. As players become more dehydrated, they’ll lose electrolytes like salt and potassium, which can cause muscle cramps and spasms in their legs and other extremities.

In hot weather, they may even experience heat illness from a pure heat effect on the muscles. Luckily, hydrating throughout practices and games can combat these symptoms and help everyone function at peak performance levels.

Rest and Recovery

Of course, pushing teammates or players too hard can result in injury — even if you take every precaution. Therefore, it’s important to integrate recovery into your routine and normalize rest.

These two training components are vital to long-term success on and off the field. Coaches should encourage recovery by educating players on its importance and incorporating static stretches, foam rolling and similar practices into the training schedule.

While some people may consider these techniques a waste of time, soccer coaches and their players will quickly recognize the benefits of rest. Moreover, they’ll deliberately use it to counterbalance all the hard work they put in on the field and grow even stronger over time.

Author Bio:

Oscar Collins is the managing editor at Modded. He writes about cars, fitness, the outdoors and more. Follow @TModded on Twitter for more articles from the Modded team.