Football is a contact sport. However, practising this type of physical activity is connected with the risk of injury. One should be careful and not disregard the messages body sends which always lets us know about adverse situations, fatigue or exhaustion.

It is worth knowing how does the injury statistics look like when practising football. With this knowledge it is easier to act preventively, stopping certain situations from happening. “Prevention is better than cure” is not only a fragment of Hippocratic oath but also information confirmed by tests.

It’s easily supposed the 80% of all injuries in football are those of lower limbs.  The most common joints subject to injury are knee ones in 36% of cases and ankle joints in 22% of cases. Those injuries concern soft tissues which are regularly subjected to opponent’ kicks. I turn, the most frequent injuries are twisted joints, muscle strains and bruising. Depending on the character of the physical activity, league competition (53%) and training effort (33%) lead to the most frequent injuries. It is connected with the level of rivalry engagement of the players.

The indicator of injuries reaches the highest values over 60 minutes of a player being on the field. The last quarter of the game is characterised by injuries reaching 25% and with 13% in the first quarter of the game. This demonstrates the connection between physical and motor preparation and susceptibility to injuries.

Main factors causing proneness to injuries are: age, not healed injuries, neglect in training and overall preparation as well as contact game exposure.

Remember! Physical and motor preparation is important when it comes to preventing injuries. Physiotherapeutic methods support prevention of injuries in football, protecting  player’s body from appearing health problems.

If you have any questions, write to me ;) bartosz.kot@soccerskills.pl