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FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup
What common injuries could you expect to see?
and
• what can be done to reduce your chance of injury?
• what you can do to help your recovery when you are injured?
• what you may expect from physiotherapy treatment at WSP?
The first-ever FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup is being held in New Zealand from 28 October to 16 November 2008. See the table below for dates and times of the games at Wellington Stadium
This article will focus on 2 common Sports Injuries which may be seen during this tournament
Read on to find out what you can do to reduce your chance of injury, what you can do to help your recovery, and what you may expect from physiotherapy at WSP.
Hamstring Strain
Firstly a strain defines an injury to the muscle or contractile element of the muscle-tendon unit.
The severity of strain can be graded; 1 through to 3.
- 1 minor tear
- 2 minor tear – major tear
- 3 complete rupture
Tendons join muscle to bone and make up the non-contractile element of the muscle-tendon unit. It is common practice to also include injuries to the tendon within the defintion of strain. Although a tear to a tendon can and does occur it is more usual for a tendon injury to be caused by degeneration and is therefore usually termed a tendonopathy.
The hamstring muscle group is made up from 3 (4) muscles; semi-tendonosis, semi-membranosus, biceps femoris and also technically the hamstring part of the adductor magnus which is actually a groin muscle. As the hamstring muscle is a 2 joint muscle, in that it crosses the hip and knee joint, the actions required from it are very complex; it may be extending (straightening) the hip joint whilst also simultaneously flexing (bending) the knee joint, or similarly controlling the flexion of the hip and the extension of the knee concurrently. This makes the hamstring muscle group highly susceptible to injury, even when all has been done to avoid injury. E.g. a sprinter in the Olympic 100m Final pulling up suddenly at the 50m mark clutching his hamstring as it tears.
This is a very common injury in football due to many factors: - The explosive muscle action and control required with kicking, jumping, lunging, tackling, sprinting and with quick, sudden changes of speed & direction
- The demands put on both the spine and pelvis for efficient stability and mobility and individual muscle groups having to adjust to different muscle lengths and actions
- Flexibility, strength and neurodynamic function of the hamstring muscle itself
- Muscular Fatigue begins to increase as the game and tournament progresses making it more susceptible to injury
- Neural Fatigue is the ability of the nerve to function normally and this will also be affected by the duration of the game & tournament and also by the form & function of the spine & pelvis, making it more susceptible to injury
- Neural Mobility is the ability of the nerve to slide normally through the different interfaces it encounters along its pathway, such as disc, facet joint, ligaments and muscles. Anything that may hinder this sliding action, such as spasm or injury will increase the chance of nerve dysfunction and nerve or muscle injury
What can be done to reduce your chance of injury? - Improve the general position, control and stability of the spine, pelvis and legs with a good core exercise program such as pilates or yoga
- Improve the flexibility of the hamstring group
- Improve the strength of the hamstring group
- Improve the endurance of the hamstring group
- Improve the neural flexibility or glide of the nerve through the interfaces
- Improve the general flexibility of the spine
- Improve the mobility AND stability of the individual spinal vertebral segments
- Improve the positioning sense and stability of the pelvis
- Improve the positioning sense, proprioception and stability of the hip, knee and foot
- Ensure you have the correct footwear dependent on your specific foot type, e.g. pronator (flat), neutral or supinator (high arch) foot
- Eat sensibly and in moderation encompassing all of the major food groups
- Drink plenty of water every day
- Wear adequate clothing to maintain warmth prior to activity
- Prepare the muscle for up-coming activity by following a warm-up routine, including dynamic stretching
- Perform gentle warm-down and stretching after activity to restore resting muscle length and help reduce the waste by-products formed with exercise
- Drink plenty of fluids or even electrolyte recovery drinks after exercise
- In the case of tournaments you should consider the use of ice baths to help reduce muscle injury and assist recovery
- In the case of tournaments you should also utilise hydrotherapy (swimming, aqua-jogging) the morning after the event to also assist recovery
What you can do to help your recovery when you are injured:
- If you do sustain a hamstring injury then you should really stop the activity immediately or you risk making the injury worse
- Follow the RICE regime
- Ice immediately on the side-line, for 20 mins
- Shower and re-ice again
- Apply a compression bandage or tubigrip to the injured area
- Limit the amount of walking you do for at least the next 24 hours, and if you have to walk then allow any limp that the body may cause as this helps protect the injury
- Then every 2-3 hours remove the bandage, re-ice for 20 mins, then re-apply the bandage again and continue the RICE regime for 2 -3 days
- You should see a physiotherapist for assessment, advice, treatment and rehabilitation of the injury. This will help ensure that all the contributing factors are identified and a rehabilitation plan organised so as to rectify these problems.
What you may expect from physiotherapy treatment at WSP? - We will thoroughly assess your injury and any other contributing factors will be highlighted to you.
- After the thorough physical assessment we will explain the extent of the injury and discuss with you the treatment options. We will then together decide on the best treatment and rehabilitation options.
- We will treat the injury and any other factors identified
- You can expect to have all of the factors highlighted in what can be done to reduce your chance of injury? above assessed and discussed with you. These are the issues that we will treat dependent on your wishes and may also involve manipulation and stability training of your spine and pelvis, and assessment and treatment of any neural gliding restrictions as well as direct hands-on treatment to We will also monitor and control the recovery of the hamstring muscle, with specific exercises to ensure that it heals as efficiently as possible
Ankle Sprain
Firstly a sprain defines an injury to a ligament. A ligament goes from bone to bone and does not attach to muscles as tendons do.
The severity of sprain can be graded; 1 through to 3.
- 1 minor tear
- 2 minor tear – major tear
- 3 complete rupture
Ankle injuries are predominantly due to the foot rolling in or ‘going over on the ankle’ and causing injuries to the ligaments on the outside of the ankle. In some cases there may be associated injuries to the inside ligaments or the joint capsule, or even boney injuries ranging from bruising to cracking, chipping, avulsions or fractures.
Some football ankle sprains are more serious and these are termed ‘high ankle sprains’. This is where there is also inflammation or tearing of the ligaments that join the two shin bones (tibia and fibular) together, either down near the ankle or the injury may extend further up the leg and into the syndesmosis.
Ankle sprains are a very common injury in football due to many factors: - Explosive muscle action involved with and the joint control required with kicking, jumping, lunging, tackling, sprinting and quick, sudden changes of speed & direction
- Poor spinal, pelvis, hip and knee strength and stability which will lead to more force going through the ankle to compensate in order to prevent you falling over.
- Weakness of the muscles that control the ankle and foot
- Poor mobility of the joints that make up the ankle and foot
- Poor general balance or specifically the ability to balance easily on one foot
- The contact nature of the sport and being knocked off-balance and landing awkwardly or landing on the ball or opponent’s foot
- Inadequate footwear for your foot type
What can be done to reduce your chance of injury?
Many of the factors that apply to the Hamstring Injury (see above) apply here also;
- Improve the general position, control and stability of the spine, pelvis and legs with a good core exercise program such as pilates or yoga
- Specifically you need to ensure adequate footwear for your foot type
- You should have good balance and control of the foot
- You should have adequate range of movement in the ankle and foot
- You should have good strength, endurance and control of the muscles around the ankle and foot
- You should include dynamic exercises such as jumping, hopping, cutting – quick sudden changes of speed and direction and controlled opponent drills within your training
What you can do to help your recovery when you are injured: - If you do sustain an ankle injury then you should really stop the activity immediately or you risk making the injury worse
- Follow the RICE regime
- Ice immediately on the side-line, for 20 mins
- Shower and re-ice again
- Apply a compression bandage or tubigrip to include the lower leg, ankle and foot
- Limit the amount of walking you do for at least the next 24 hours, and if you have to walk then allow any limp that the body may cause as this helps protect the injury
- Then every 2-3 hours remove the bandage, re-ice for 20 mins, then re-apply the bandage again and continue the RICE regime for 2 -3 days
- You should see a physiotherapist for assessment, advice, treatment and rehabilitation of the injury. This will help ensure that all the contributing factors are identified and a rehabilitation plan organised so as to rectify these problems.
What you may expect from physiotherapy treatment at WSP? - We will thoroughly assess your injury and any other contributing factors will be highlighted to you.
- After the thorough physical assessment we will explain the extent of the injury and discuss with you the treatment options. We will then together decide on the best treatment and rehabilitation options.
- We will treat the injury and any other factors identified
- You can expect to have all of the factors highlighted in what can be done to reduce your chance of injury? above assessed and discussed with you. These are the issues that we will treat dependent on your wishes and may also involve manipulation and stability training of your spine and pelvis, and assessment and treatment of any neural gliding restrictions as well as direct hands-on treatment to the injured ankle.
- We will also monitor and control the recovery of the ankle, with specific exercises to ensure that it heals as efficiently as possible
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