12:36pm Friday 28th May 2010
By Barry Nelson
AS the World Cup approaches, England’s chances of victory hinge on its players remaining injury-free at the end of a gruelling domestic season.
The fitness of every member of Fabio Capello’s squad is coming under increasing scrutiny in the countdown to South Africa 2010.
There has been David Beckham’s ruptured Achilles tendon, Wayne Rooney’s ankle and groin problems, and Ledley King’s long-running knee injury – to name but a few.
With so many super-fit footballers falling victim to physical problems, what hope is there of avoiding injury for ordinary people who play the odd game of football, go running occasionally or try to keep fit in the gym?
Of course, footballers’ bodies are put under far more strain than “weekend athletes”, and even though they’re at the peak of physical fitness they still succumb to injury.
While Rooney and King – whose knee didn’t cause any problems when he scored in England’s 3-1 win against Mexico on Monday – look like being fit to play in South Africa, Beckham is out of the running, and Gareth Barry, who has an ankle ligament injury, is doubtful.
However, England’s injury woes are not too bad, say the Football Association.
That’s heartening for the fans to hear, but they might not be as keen to listen to advice about their own well-being when playing football, or enjoying amateur sport and exercise.
Sports physiotherapist Phil Evans says that for occasional footballers, a lack of conditioning could easily result in injuries. “If you just walk up to a Sunday league match with no conditioning at all, you haven’t got the strength or stability that the professionals have, and when you sprint for the ball, you’re likely to be injured.”
There will always be unavoidable injuries, such as breaking an ankle in a bad tackle. “But hamstring, groin and muscular injuries can be prevented through conditioning and exercise,” says Evans. He advises occasional sportspeople to do core stability exercises such as pilates or yoga, and says: “If they keep that up, the likelihood of injury is massively decreased.”
Stretching before and after exercise is often thought to be an important way of preventing injury. However, research has had mixed results, and some consider it a waste of time.
Evans, however, says stretching is important, although it needs to be the right sort.
Dynamic stretching, where you warm up and stretch muscles at the same time, is useful as it’s stretching on-thego.
It is based on the sport that you are d o i n g and the i n j u r - ies you a r e most likely to get. The other type of stretching is static, where you bend over and stretch the hamstrings from a fixed position.
“Static stretching is also important,”
says Evans, “but it’s not as essential pre-games. It’s more for an increase in range of movement for injury safety, for example, if you have very short hamstrings.”
He says warming up is important, as is stretching after sport, which will reduce the Doms effect (delayed onset of muscle soreness), and cooling down.
Sports physiotherapist Nichola Croft agrees that stretching is important, despite the mixed research views. “I don’t think there’s enough evidence to say it’s not worth doing,”
she says, “especially if there’s an asymmetry – if you can feel that one side’s tighter than the other”.
She suggests that people stretch for 20 to 30 seconds twice on each side before exercising, to lengthen muscles, and do more stretching within the cool-down period afterwards.
Such preparation may help reduce the risk of the more common sporting injuries, which include sprained ankles, recurrent low back pain, anterior cruciate ligament knee injuries, Achilles tendon problems and groin strains.
PEOPLE who keep fit by running will often suffer “bio-mechanical niggles”, says Croft, including friction on the outside of the knee, sprained ankles, knee cartilage problems and Achilles tendon pain. But she adds: “Irritation to the Achilles might just come down to inappropriate footwear.”
Another, less common but extremely disabling, injury is an Achilles tendon rupture, which tends to occur in the over-40s. It’s the injury that David Beckham suffered in March and which has put him out of action for months, ending his dream of becoming the first England player to appear in four World Cups.
“Usually, Achilles tears or ruptures require a strong contraction of the calf muscle, so often that’s in sports like sprinting or tennis,” says Croft. The best way for weekend athletes to prevent injuries is by starting to exercise gradually – initially running for 20 minutes instead of 40 minutes, for example.
Getting some advice may also be a good way to prevent injury. Sports physiotherapists will pre-screen people before they take part in events like marathons, so they can assess how an individual’s body works, and their strengths and weaknesses.
Some stores that sell running shoes may offer to video a runner’s gait to assess which footwear will give appropriate support.
Part of an occasional sportsman’s injury risk stems from the fact that exercise is so easy to take up that many people will just throw themselves into it without preparation.
“Part of the charm of sport and exercise is that you don’t require lots of money, and you don’t need gym membership,”
says Croft. “But it’s about training your body so it can do the appropriate workload, and not expecting it to be able to cope from day one.”
It’s also important to let your body recover from exercise. “Recovery time is when you’re repairing those muscles to build your strength,” says Croft. She warns that people should be aware that as they age their bodies change and are not as adaptable, and advises weekend athletes that they need a longer warm-up period, and possibly a little cross-training in another sport during the week, to keep up their fitness.
She adds: “If you start to get a niggle and it persists beyond about two weeks, get someone to have a look at it. Often people just ignore these minor aches, thinking they will go away, and they can then become something like a muscle tear that you can’t ignore and which will cause a lot more of a problem.”
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