Football: a warm-up routine to avoid injuries
Before a training session or match, a warm-up is aimed at increasing body temperature and physical performance. It is recommended to carry out this seriously and with patience, since any excessive precipitation increases the risk of infection. A good warm-up session relieves pre-match fatigue, enhances focus, and prepares the nervous system as well as muscles for the high intensity required by efforts on the court.
1/ Injuries and their causes
In high-level football, any team that wants to do well in tournaments and competitions must keep its workforce away from the dispensary. A study published by UEFA in 2018 showed that 38% of injuries are of muscular origin: strains, tears, and contractures. The most common injuries are thigh injuries, especially the hamstrings. This is followed by knee injuries - 25.4% of cases - sprains of the ankle and hips - 14% of cases - and pubic pain.
The knee - and its joints - is the most sensitive area for soccer players. Several well-known players have been away from the field for a long time - about six months - due to a ruptured ACL. Contacts in football are more and more frequent: excessive tackles, jumps, etc. But injuries can occur due to poor foot position when resting on the ground, during running, when changing direction, or due to poor genetic factors.
2/ Good warm-up conditions
The solutions to significantly reduce injuries are preventive warm-ups and reducing contributing factors. These factors can be linked to the environment - cold and damp - and an unhealthy lifestyle - use of stimulants, tobacco, insufficient sleep, poor hydration, and personal causes: stress, convalescence, decreased resilience. etc.
Injury prevention consists in working out while warming up: strengthening muscles and mobility. It is also recommended to absorb proprioception during sports warm-ups, as it allows you to anticipate the different situations to which the equilibrium point is subject.
3/ Warm up well before the match
Be regular in warming up. This should be progressive, age-appropriate, and last at least 20 minutes.
The minimum guarantees for an injury-free match are: good hydration (by drinking at least 1.5 liters before, during and after the warm-up), weather-appropriate gear, shoes that adapt to the ground and cleaning of the lower extremities for at least 15 minutes.
Before the match or in training, the warm-up program is carried out by:
15 minutes of running around the field without forcing.
- 5 min stretches: hamstrings, adductor muscles, quadriceps and calves.
5 minutes of proprioception.
5 minute fast playback.
- 5 minutes of support work at a distance of 5 meters: chest, head, upright, and cover.
In ball practice, it is necessary to note:
One-minute single ball campaign alternating movements: heels and buttocks, knee raises, flexions, extensions over the ball.
Toro exercises.
- Group exercises to keep the ball in the middle of the field.
