Preventing foot injuries in football

In this post, guide if you will we shall be discussing how to prevent foot injuries in football after all it is called football. With so much twisting, weaving and running involved in football there is a increased chance of sustaining a foot injury whether it is plantar fasciitis, a sprained ankle or a fracture. This season in the NFL there has been many injuries especially ones effecting players feet like for example Eddie lacy who has recently injured his ankle. Sometimes there isn’t much you can do in football to prevent a injury especially when a player is hurtling full speed towards you and you land in a awkward position.But there are things you can do that can help prevent or at least lesser the damage of a injury and we will be explaining how here.

If you do not stretch before a game your muscles will still be tight and if all a sudden you try to run there is a huge chance you will cause the tight muscles to tear.

Stretching

Proper stretching before you play is really important as many injuries are often caused by tearing of muscles and ligaments which could have been easily avoided if the player simply stretched properly before the football game. Plantar fascitiis is a nasty injury that effects many athletes and is often the caused by the inflammation of the plantar fascia from overuse. But by stretching which will help loosen the tension and reduce the risk of tear and inflammation is a trick many football players miss. You have got various stretches which you can try out which can help significantly reduce the risk of plantar fasciitis and even strengthen the foot to make sure the foot is strong enough not to be torn or get inflamed. Here is a quick example of a exercise that you can try out for yourself which some players ay helps them keep plantar fasciitis at bay.

-By using a step and doing this movement as the picture shows you can strengthen your Achilles and the muscles in your foot which can really help prevent injury!

Running technique

Running technique is so so important! Make sure that when you run you run the correct way this will in effect reduce fatigue in the muscles and mean you will be faster and can run for much longer time periods without lactic acid build up. A good running technique is also a good way to avoid injury too. Make sure that when you run you run with good posture… shoulders back and head held up. Make sure that your footing position is also correct too. More information on running technique can be found here.

Insoles and footwear

Having poorly fitted footwear is one of the main reasons why foot injuries are worse than they should be. With little protection to protect the feet from shocks, too tighter shoes restricting movement and causing excess pressure and inefficient support are all to blame to why some football players may miss quite a few games rather than just one or two.

American football players are well known for the amount of shoulder padding and safety equipment they have on in order to protect themselves however many football players forget to protect there feet or do not give enough support to them. Injury’s can occur not only by not stretching them but not giving them enough support, after all your feet have to put up a lot in a game bouncing around everywhere carrying your weight, twisting and turning quickly. The plantar fascia can get tight and this can become a real problem if you footwear does not provide extra support to combat the excess tension which may arise from running and jumping something common in football, also if your feet over pronate under under pronate this can also cause the plantar fascia (located under the arch of your foot) to be extra tight and at a higher risk of developing plantar fasciitis, buying some arch support insoles or wearing shoes with arch support added to them can really make a difference.

-So to summarize because your arches are constantly under the pressure from your body weight made worse by the jumping and running involved in football the arches are very susceptible to being inflamed or teared to reduce the pressure on your arches make sure you have at least some for of arch support

Shock absorption, as you may know in football it will be unlikely that you will last all the game without your far share of knocks and blows. Over times though these shocks from tackles can cause lasting damage in the form of micro fractures and over a career this can become a real problem as the feet are weakened, shock absorbing insoles will take some of the shock and dampen the effects so if you are n football for the long run is a great idea to get some… also this will tend to reduce the aches and pains of the feet after a football match due to less shocks attacking the feet as well.

Insoles are also good at making sure your feet are in the correct position and stay in the correct position reducing the likelihood that if you are tackled your feet are in a awkward position which could cause a painful injury.

Some people may say that custom insoles are the best ones to get but this is a little untrue as there are plenty of places online which you can buy off the shelf insoles that have been proven to be just as effective than custom insoles if not better. Make sure if you do decide to buy some that you get a pair that are made out of a material which will naturally mold to the shape of your feet this will provide the best fit and the best protection.

If you have got any more idea which we have missed please feel free to comment below and tell us! Thanks for reading!