According to one report, each year there is an average of 8.6 million sports-related injuries.

One sport that can leave you with some nasty injuries are is soccer. Soccer injuries can happen due to things outside of your control, but there are a few things you can do to prevent them.

If they do happen, you can also do some things to help them heal faster! Keep reading to find out how!

Common Soccer Injuries

There are all kinds of types of soccer injuries, but it depends on what happened to you.

Regardless of the injury, you should always make sure you talk to your doctor to ensure it’s nothing serious. 

Sprains and Strains

These types of sports injuries can range from mild to serious. They normally happen in your lower extremity. For example, you could’ve torn some cartilage or tore your ACL in your knee.

For that type of injury, you’ll likely need surgery. Another common knee injury includes tearing your meniscus. 

This is a small piece of the ligament that is in your knee, and it’s very small and easy to tear. It may not be as serious as an ACL injury, but you’ll likely need surgery or rehab.

However, you could also just have some sore injuries or muscles that will need a few days to heal back up.

Overuse

While you might get injured during a game, you probably spent hours on the field the weeks beforehand. Your muscles and joints are already weakened from overuse, and one wrong hit can knock them out.

For example, if you feel soreness in your calf or shin, you could have shin splints. Some people also experience patellar tendinitis, which is a pain in your knee from overuse. 

If you have pain behind your ankle, you might have torn or injured your Achilles tendon. These are all common soccer injuries. However, some soccer players have also been known to tear their thigh, calf muscle, or groin from overuse of playing. 

If a bone is overused, it could become more susceptible to a fracture as well. If you have a lot of pain that isn’t resolving within a few days, you may want to go to the doctor to check if there is a stress fracture there. 

Injuries to Head

Injuries to your head or neck can be fatal in some cases. Injuries include light bruising, neck sprains, fractures, or even concussions.

A concussion is serious and should always be checked out by a physician. This happens when a player is hit really hard in the head that it knocks the brain around. This could possibly leave lasting issues. 

Some people who have a concussion even lose consciousness. 

However, you can also get fractures from a serious fall or a collision. If you suspect that you fractured or injured your neck, you should go to an emergency room immediately. 

Ankle Injury

Since soccer players are always kicking at each other’s ankles, it’s not uncommon to suffer from ankle injuries either. If you roll your ankle too much to one side, the ligaments in the joint will stretch which will leave you with a sprained ankle. 

This can happen if you plant your foot and decide to change directions too quickly. However, this may also happen if another player accidentally trips you while trying to get the ball. 

How to Treat Them

When wondering how to care for sports injuries, rest assured that most of them will probably be able to be treated at home and won’t need any serious help. 

If you do suffer an injury on the field, regardless of what it is, you should stop playing and get checked out. If you keep playing with an injury, you could make it worst. You should only go back to playing soccer when your doctor clears you to go back. 

Most mild injuries can be treated with some rest, icing, and elevation. You should try and lift the injured area above your heart level for the best results. If your mild injury isn’t healing, you may want to talk to a doctor. 

If your injury is serious, your doctor may prescribe sports rehabilitation or other procedures, like surgery, to help fix it. 

How to Prevent These Injuries

Sometimes these injuries aren’t preventable because accidents do happen. But there are a few precautions you can take to help limit your probability of getting one of those injuries. 

Make sure that you warm up before your game. Every sports medicine doctor recommends this for any type of exercise because it will get your body ready. You should try doing some light cardio or stretches. 

Next, make sure you don’t play if you already feel any type of pain. That game might be the breaking point that really prolongs the injury. You should also make sure that you drink enough water, get enough sleep, and have a healthy and balanced diet. 

Learn More About How to Prevent and Treat Soccer Injuries

These are only a few things to know about soccer injuries, but when in doubt, you should make sure that you talk with your doctor.

Suffering an injury from sports can be scary, especially when you don’t know what it is. But you don’t have to go through it alone. We’re here to help you diagnose the problem!

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