About 10 kilometers Mileage, of which approx. 1,000 meters in sprint. There are also 40 to 60 accelerations and a change in running direction all 5 seconds.
Ninety minutes of modern soccer are therefore not only packed with pure emotions such as joy, suffering and excitement, but also with enormous burdens for the player.
Limit loads that may be too much for the athlete's body.
Often affected: the knee joint.
In this blog post, we therefore explain everything you need to know about the topic of “knee problems in soccer” — from the causes to how to combat them.
We also have five exercises for you that will optimally prepare you for the new season.
Knee problems are certainly not uncommon in soccer — especially in the current phase of the season. Because the preparation period in winter, which usually lasts six weeks, has plenty of potential to put your body on the sidelines: big goals, high intensity, little regeneration.
If there is also space available that oscillates overnight between deep-muddy and hard-frozen, problems and injuries are more pre-programmed than the championship title in the Spanish La Liga.
While either Madrid or Barcelona are racing there, there are different health problems.
If you trust the VBG Sports Report, a statistical evaluation of injuries in professional soccer, the following picture emerges in terms of injury regions:
Injuries in thigh area — 24.4%
Injuries to knee joint — 15.5%
Spunggelenk — 12.5%
foot — 10.3%
If you are still struggling with your knee joint after this long inactive corona break, this is annoying and unnecessary, but it is not an exclusive problem.
On the other hand, this is also underlined by a deeper look at the world of statistics, which shows a significant upward bend, especially at the start of preparation times when it comes to knee problems in soccer.
Immediately after preparation, the risk of injuries is increased by up to 30 percent.
Another key message of the VBG report is that downtime in soccer due to knee problems is increasing from year to year — currently by over 20 percent.
There are similarly steady growth rates — at least in relative terms — in the players' conditional requirement profile.
Faster, higher, farther — at the expense of health?
Knee problems in soccer are a challenge for every player — in three ways.
Knee injuries may not only come together with an accompaniment called “longest downtime of all possible injuries” at the most unwanted party of a soccer player's life.
No, she also comes uninvited (more than 40 percent of all knee injuries are without and only with indirect contact with the opponent) and you often never know when she is going home again.
There are sometimes three reasons why knee injuries or pain problems frustrate many soccer players —
sometimes up to listlessness and the end of a career.
If you injure the collateral ligaments in the knee joint, you must immediately go to a specialist.
The diagnosis then determines the extent of the injury. If the band is just pulled or stretched, a few days are enough to keep the knee still, followed by muscle building training.
If the ligament breaks completely, it depends on whether the injury has complex side effects, i.e. to what extent the structure is damaged. Meniscus injuries are not uncommon, especially when it comes to inner ligament ruptures.
Shock diagnosis of every kicker. In a detailed interview with knee specialist Prof. Dr. Stefan Hinterwimmer, the cruciate ligament is described as the most important structure for stabilizing the knee against displacement and twisting.
According to the expert, that is exactly what happens when a crack occurs: simultaneous displacement and twisting. Usually without direct influence from the opponent when landing after a jump or a sudden change of direction.
This creates a feeling of instability — an operation is often unavoidable.
If the meniscus is injured in soccer, this also means a painful and often a longer end for the player.
A meniscus tear is relatively easy to diagnose. You often hear a distinct crack in the knee as soon as a meniscus ruptures while playing soccer.
Meniscus damage then results in shooting pain on the inner or outer side of the knee — especially during rotational movements.
Even though cartilage damage is now not a death sentence for playing soccer, it is still one of the more serious knee injuries in soccer.
The tricky thing about cartilage damage: Damaged cartilage does not grow back by itself. And the healing process can even take up to a year.
Cartilage damage due to continuous overload is sometimes one of the most common signs of wear and tear on the joints of the human body.
The list could be extended as required at this point. The jumper's knee must also be considered here. Since this topic is particularly important to us, we will publish a separate blog post for you shortly.
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In other words, this describes “the connections between limitations of a non-painful joint in one region and resulting pain in another region” (quote from Dr. med. Markus Klingenberg).
Put more simply: If the knee hurts, this can be due to limited ankle mobility, hamstrings, hips or spine.
For chronic knee problems in soccer, you therefore have to ask yourself the question: What restrictions does my body have that could possibly also lead to this problem?
More about the topic You can find in the article “Shock diagnosis of cruciate ligament rupture”. We also have an article specifically on the subject of knee injuries in women's soccer.
Be fearless. Be focused. B42
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