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Jose Lucas
A. Puskar
English III: 4TH
block
19 March 2013
Common Soccer Injuries
Have you ever wonder how soccer injuries are caused? Soccer players have
common injuries their soccer game or after a sprained ankle, tendonitis, even muscle
cramps. There are many symptoms, preventions and treatments of the most common
soccer injuries.
There are many types of injuries in soccer. One of the most common one is
tendonitis, which is the inflammation of tendons (Burger). In sports, tendons can easily
become inflamed from the stress of repeated movements. An acute injury such as a
missed step or impacts from a fall or Collins can also inflame tendons. The biggest cause
of tendonitis in athletes is an injury that forces a tendon to stretch beyond its normal
range of motion and also cause pain, swelling and inflammation in the tendon. Another
kind of injury that soccer players can suffer is muscle cramps. It can involve part of a
muscle or all the muscle in a group. The mostly commonly affected muscle groups are
the back of the lower leg/calf (gastrocnemius), the back of tight hamstrings, front of thigh
(quadriceps), feet’s, hands, arms, and abdomens (Cluett, Jonathan). Muscle cramps are a
painful contraction to the skeletal muscle. These occur often when the athletes are in a
game. The cause of muscle cramps are not yet determined, but they think is excessive

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heat and loss of fluids and minerals. The fluid and minerals athletes often lose are
calcium, sodium, and potassium. Tight muscles tend to cramp more easily. The muscle
cramps occur and they give no warnings they are coming. A muscle cramp happens at the
end of an activity, after the body has stressed during the activity. Dehydration can also
cause muscle cramps. Common muscle cramps take place in certain type of sports and
activities. They are most likely to occur in the same body part that everyone gets them in.
In sports like soccer, track, rugby, and American football muscle cramps are commonly
to happen in the calf, hamstring, and quadriceps (thigh) muscles (Muscle Cramps). When
players go down during a game from muscle cramps, they need to stretch their legs
straight to loosen it. Some symptoms of muscle cramps could be muscle spasms, knotting
of muscles, muscle pain, and excessive saltiness of sweat or visible dried salt on the skin.
The pressure that soccer players get is the sensitively of tightness throbbing or the
pain that affects the head, including the face, scalp, skull, and brain. Pressure in the head
can also be known as a headache. It can affect a part or the whole head. Headaches can be
caused by inflammation in sinuses, a cold, or allergies. They are also very uncomfortable
because they may cause athletes severe pain. Pressure in the head can also be referred to
a serious condition, in which there is an increase in intracranial pressure inside the skull
(McDonough). Players soccer at a high altitude can make athletes lose their appetite and
cause them nausea. To prevent pressure in the brain they need to rest in a cool area and
avoid heat exhaustion. They shouldn’t drink caffeinated and alcoholic beverages before
soccer. Instead they need to drink water and sponge with cool water to replace lost fluids.
If they ever have nausea after soccer don’t brush off the symptoms. Even if it’s normal to
feel a lot of hunger after playing soccer nausea isn’t a good sign. A knock to the head by

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a ball kicked at full force, or a blow from another player head or elbow can cause nausea,
so they need to avoid those types of heats. Nausea can also result from heavy sweating
causing pale skin color, dizziness, slow pulse or fatigue. Nausea is a symptom of
concussions (Parrish, Rogue). If you ever see an athlete have a concussion immediately
have someone call 911. Another injury that shouldn’t be ignored is a strong muscle pulls
at the tendon-bone junction because it could lead to complete separation of the tendon
from the bone. This can happen because athletes over use your tendon bone when it’s
injured. Overuse of an injury can cause inflammation (Levengood, Gary A). When this
occurs an athlete’s injury begins to have redness, warmth, swelling, and pain as you
move it. The worst case of overusing injuries is the stress factor. This is because their
injured bones are unable to keep up with the increasing demand of movement you place
on it. They should always use ice to decrease inflammation to not cause the injury to get
worse.
How can injuries be prevented and treated? Well the answer simply is to wear the
correct gear for soccer, warm up, and get treated after you have injuries. Since there are
different types of positions in soccer there are also different requirements in the gear each
position to use. There are positions like goalie, defense, forward, etc. Goalies should wear
a different colored jersey than their team and the other team. This will help other Players
know those players are the goalies and not need to kick or jump at them, preventing
injuries. They also need to wear goalie groves that keep their hands firm, to catch the ball
without bending their fingers or hurting their hands. All soccer players that play outside
in the grass need to wear cleats (Atanda M.D, Alfred J). Cleats have built-in studs that
help you plant your foot when kicking or changing direction. There can also wear oval

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shaped shin guards that fit on the front of their legs. There protect their tender bones of
the lower legs from kicks or a hard hit ball hitting them so hard that may cause them pain.
Shin guards protect players from that pain. There are also very inexpensive and can easily
be slipper into their socks to keep them in place. The socks must be knee height or higher
to fully cover the skin guards. Indoor leagues don’t require shin guards, cleats, or socks
(Atanda M.D, Alfred J). There do require indoor shoes with smooth rubber that features a
tread pattern though. Warming up will also help them prevent many injuries. Before
every game player must always warm up and stretch. They should hold each stretch for at
least 30 seconds before moving on to another one. When they stretch it is always better
for them to do it gently and slowly to give their blood time to flow and you bones time to
get active. Do jumping jacks, run in placeget with a partner and help do different types of
stretches. Consuming healthy food and liquids when needed can prevent injuries too. If
they already have an injury then they need to prevent it from getting worse or getting
another one. Some injuries may need doctors and even surgery. When a doctor confirms a
problem player’s need to always do what he tells them to do (Reuters Health). They may
also even be able to take medications, such as ibuprofen, Motrin, naprosti calibers, and
many others. Some doctors may recommend them to have physical therapy. These
therapies will help soccer players to have better skills, and help you to know how to
nutrient, condition, and train yourself. Surgery is also a treatment to repair torn knee
ligaments. Athletes can still play after they get surgery but it’s better for them to avoid it.
There are also very simple treatments. Some of those are to rest for a short period of time,
place ice on injury, elevation, sports medicine, and don’t push through pain.

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Soccer players can have any injuries but they can also prevent them and treat
them. All they have to do is maintain their proper fitness, and treat injuries instead of
overusing them. Soccer players may always live injuries, but its best for them to get them
as less as possible.
This graph indicates the percent of the athletes that do warm-up during a game. The time
they spend doing warm-up is about 10-20 minutes. 100 percent of them do warm up before the
match begins. It is necessary to warm up before practicing any sports because if you do not do it,
cramps will take place quickly. 60 percent of the players usually have a warm up during the half
time of the match. Only some of the players do a stretch when the match finishes, which is 20
percent.
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
120%
Before Match Half Time After Match
Percentage of athletes who warms-up
Percentage of athletes who
warms-up