Top 4 Youth Soccer Injury Risk Factors
The number one reason athletes and parents of athletes seek my help is for injury prevention. There is nothing more frustrating for an athlete than a season lost or cut short. In order to create a prevention plan there are a few basic concepts that each athlete, parent, and coach must consider. Keep in mind a cookie cutter approach will not take, and it’s important to realize that each athlete is unique in their needs.
Fitness - seems like an obvious answer but its true, the better our fitness level, the less likely we are to get hurt (how often have you seen Ronaldo out injured throughout his career?). We tend to see more non-contact related injuries in players with a higher BMI (body mass index) and injuries tend to peak when we are fatigued.
Previous Injury - this is the #1 risk factor. If we sprained our ankle, we are more likely to re-injury that same ankle. Which brings up the idea of recovery and performance. Just because pain has settled in an area and we can play again, it does not mean we can ignore it. It’s vital to maintain the strength and mobility to an injured area along with having a screening process periodically (i.e preseason) to look for any remaining movement limitations at the injury site.
Technique - Altered movements patterns place athletes at a high risk for injury. The common and most researched movement pattern is seen to stress the infamous ACL. A simple test is to have the athlete jump, paying close attention to the position of the knees during landing. Any combination of landing with the knees straight and/or the knees collapsing inward (knees touching) has been shown to be a major risk factor for the ACL. Although strength and mobility are important, these athletes need direct re-training on proper technique.
Growth Spurt - Thats right, growing pains are real and seem to peak between the ages of 13-15 years old with athletes. The idea of bone length rapidly growing while muscles and ligaments needing time to catch up puts the youth athlete at risk for muscle injuries that can linger throughout the season.
Knowledge of the risk factors is one of the most important prevention tools as the majority of these risk factors are easily preventable with the proper intervention. Check back with the blog, as i’ll be going through each topic with more detail and plenty of other exciting content to come.