Tag: football

Avoiding Sporting Injuries – A Guide for Adults and Older Athletes

By Craig Steele (Sports Physiotherapist)

With winter well and truly upon us, we tend to start seeing the injuries flow into the clinic from various sports such as soccer, rugby, touch football and tennis. With Australians being encouraged to take up more activity and organised sport, it is timely to take a look at the causes of sports injuries and what we can do to minimise the risks of being injured in the first case.

The broad term of “sports injuries” refers to injury sustained whilst undertaking not only organised sport, but also physical activity/exercise. They can occur for a number of reasons including accidents, poor training surfaces, poor equipment, poor technique, lack of conditioning or inadequate warm up or stretching.

If starting a new sport, it is important to seek coaching to ensure that your technique is correct, you are using the correct equipment for your shape and size and you are exercising on the correct surfaces. Sports injuries can affect any part of your body, but typically relate to the musculoskeletal system (muscles, bones and joints). Some of the most common injuries are sprains, strains and fractures.

A sprain refers to stretching or tearing of the ligaments – the thick band that joins one bone to another. Sprains can range from Grade 1 (minimal stretch) to Grade 3 (complete tear of the ligament) and usually result from trauma such as a fall or knock from fellow competitors. It is important to know the Grade of sprain, as this dictates the course of rehabilitation. Symptoms include pain, swelling, laxity or inability to weight bear through the joint.

A strain is a pull or tear of the muscle or it’s tendon (attaches the muscle to the bone). It usually results from overstretching or overcontracting the muscle. Symptoms may include pain, muscle spasm and weakness.

How to Treat Sports Injuries:

If you experience a sporting injury, you should follow these principles until you can seek further assessment from a physiotherapist or suitably qualified health professional:
1. Rest – it is important to immobilise the area injured if the pain is severe, or reduce your activity as your pain dictates, especially in the first 24 hours.
2. Ice – apply ice packs to the injured area to reduce inflammation and swelling. Always put ice pack in a damp tea-towel to reduce the risk of ice burns and apply for no longer than 20min at a time. This can be applied regularly in the first 24-48 hours.
3. Compression – is used to support the area and reduce swelling. Bandages or tubular bandages such as “tubigrip” may be used
4. Elevation – elevating the injured area (especially for lower limb injuries) helps to reduce swelling in the area.

Tips for Preventing Injury

1. No weekend warriors! – don’t be inactive through the week, then go and play lots of physical sports or overdo the exercise. Try to spread your activity throughout the week.
2. Increase your exercise level gradually, especially when starting back at sport or exercise
3. Ensure you have a good technique – coaching may be necessary
4. Accept your bodies limits and modify your activities as needed
5. Use the correct safety gear
6. Maintain good overall fitness. It is important to combine cardiovascular activity with weight training and stretching exercises.
7. Seek treatment early on if experiencing pain or discomfort.

Remember, it is always easier to treat conditions early before they become chronic. Physiotherapists are trained to accurately assess sports injuries and implement an appropriate treatment program. Sports

Physiotherapists have undergone extra tertiary level training to refine their skills in assessing the biomechanics of sport, assessment of injuries and the implementation of thorough and sports related treatment programs.

Craig Steele has a Masters Degree in Sports Physiotherapy and owns Hinteractive Physio. He can be contacted on 5442 5556.

Achilles Heel of Football

By Craig Steele

With pre-season training well behind us, all football codes have strapped the boots on for the first couple of rounds and we are already seeing leg strains and injuries from both acute injuries and overuse injuries. Achilles tendon issues have been prevalent in these first few weeks of the season, as a result of training issues related to training surface and biomechanics along with training loads.

Most infamously we have recently seen the golden boot of David Beckham suffer an Achilles rupture, requiring surgical repair. His injury was not one of those acute sprains but rather an acute presentation of a long term degenerative condition of the Achilles tendon. The condition usually presents itself through a footballer’s career as episodic strains of the Achilles tendon known as “tendinosis”, and occasionally there is inflammation in the lubricating sheath of the tendon. The term “Achilles Tendinitis” is really a misnomer, as the tendon does not get inflamed itself but rather the surrounding structures. This repetitive micro-trauma of the tendon without adequate healing leads to the chronic condition of tendinosis, whereby the tendon suffers gradual degenerative breakdown. This is also true of all tendon structures of the body including the knee and shoulder.

Achilles tendon pain associated with an acute episode is due to inflammatory swelling around the tendon and poor tolerance of the tendon to further exercise loading. This is what we have been seeing in the early stage of the football season for all codes and is managed through appropriate treatment of causative factors and relative rest over the short term. However, it is the long term management that prevents progression of tendinosis into chronic, crippling states that may even progress to tendon tears or rupture. Physiotherapy is the mainstay of management for all tendon injuries that have not progressed so far along this injury continuum to require surgical intervention. Typical forms of treatment from a sports physiotherapist include massage, stretches, acupuncture and taping to deal with the acute presentation when there is swelling and inflammation in the surrounding tissues. But the keystone to good sports physio management is diagnosing the causative factors and assisting in future management of these issues when identified.

Experience with the different codes of football allows for greater understanding of the forces placed upon the lower limb during sport and the training requirements for coping with these strains on the Achilles tendon. Ultimately the recovery of the tendon relates to the strength and endurance of the whole leg as well as the core muscles of the hip. Flexibility is also an important issue for lower limb strength and stability during running and turning in football. For prevention or recovery from an Achilles tendon injury it is essential to address biomechanical issue arising from the foot and the dreaded footy boot which on average still lacks adequate support for the athletic foot. This often requires the correct fitting of footwear / boots and can even require intervention from orthotics inside the shoe to control poor foot posture and biomechanics.

If you have any concerns about your Achilles Heel or any other tendon injuries please contact an appropriate health professional. Craig Steele is a sports physiotherapist working at Hinteractive Physio in Cooroy and can be contacted on 5442 5556.