Preventing Football Injuries
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The clock is ticking and Preseason football is about to begin. The Athletic trainers are stocking the training rooms and getting ready for a big season. Coming back to training camp can be a shock for athlete who “rested” a little too much during the off season.
But when that early morning alarm sounds on the 1st day of preseason football training, its game time!
Please watch this video by Trevor Lawrence about the JOI Foundation.
Time for football practice
Preseason Football Training Schedule
Preseason football training has a reputation of being torturous, especially in the South. The extraordinary heat and humidity are a recipe for heat exhaustion and heat related injuries. Football training usually begins early in the morning to avoid the afternoon heat. 2 a day practices allow teams to tack on some practice time when the sun begins to go down as well.
In Florida, the FSHAA has developed a general training schedule to help regulate preseason football training. This schedule not only keeps high school teams from over practicing, but it allows for a gradual build up toward contact and competition.
Even with a gradual build up, Injuries in football are common. In fact, football has the highest percentage of injuries of any other sport in the USA.
3 Ways to Prevent Football Injuries
Preventing football injuries comes down to 3 components:
- Training
- Equipment
- Health and Wellness
Read on to learn how to prepare and prevent injuries with football.
Most Common Football Injuries
50% of the most common football injuries are in the legs or lower extremities injuries. These injuries include:
- strains
- sprains
- dislocations
- fractures
- concussions
Football is a vigorous sport that involves high force contact. Click to Learn more about Common Football Injuries.
football tackle
What is the Goal of Injury Prevention?
The goal of injury prevention is to decrease early retirement from sport and provide the overall health and safety of athletes. 50% of football injuries do come from direct contact which may be difficult to prevent; However, non-contact injuries are just as common. Preventing football injuries can happen with early intervention.
The goal of preventing football injuries takes a team of people to achieve coaches, family members, team healthcare providers, teammates and the athlete. By maintaining the health of players, costs are minimized, and overall performance of the athlete is improved.
How are Football Injuries Prevented?
1. Training
Preventing football injuries are by following prevention programs that load and train the body to withstand forces that will be applied in sport. Prevention programs tend to load the athlete with:
- Eccentric Exercises – Trains muscles on slowing down movements in a controlled manner decreasing the availability for strains and sprains to take place.
- Balance Training – Increases proprioception and allows athlete’s to be more agile and “shifty”.
- Mobility Exercises – Allow for greater movements at the joint that are controlled and with proper mechanics decreasing chances of soft tissue injuries.
Non-contact football training
Focusing on these three things can assist in decreasing non-contact injuries.
2. Equipment
Contact injuries that take place on the field can be prevented by protective equipment such as: helmet, shoulder pads, additional padding, preventative braces and so much more. It’s important to assess equipment, keep things up to date and make sure that equipment fits properly to avoid excessive forces placed on the body. Below is a list of equipment that should be used when playing football.
- Helmet – Each helmet should be assessed for the NOCSAE seal and should reassessed throughout the year prior to participation in football.
- Mouth Guards – Should be sized and worn at all times when competing in football to prevent injuries to the teeth, head, jaw and surrounding soft tissue.
- Shoulder Pads – Should be fit to protect the check, ribs, and shoulders. This aids in preventing catastrophic injuries and fatalities.
- Proper Orthoses & Protective Wear – Can help with any pre-existing conditions that will promote pain leading to more severe injuries.
- Facial Covering or Eyewear – Should be polycarbonate and shatter proof in the event that it breaks on the field.
3. Health and Wellness
A large part of injury prevention is knowing when to say when. It’s important to understand that mental and physical health go hand in hand with injury prevention as well.
- Self-care – This is important and in football there are multiple factors that play into injuries including environmental ones.
- Hydration & Nutrition – Both play a major role in football due to weather variables and the overall high demands of the sport. Football players should focus on what they put in their bodies to increase energy production for success. Dehydration decreases mental status and the muscle’s ability to activate when they are needed.
- Proper Tackling Technique- It is so important to learn the proper way to tackle in the game of football. Coaches of all levels should teach the proper techniques and re-enforce them at practice and games.
Want to learn more on how to prevent running injuries? Click HERE!
Brain Injury from Football
One of the scariest injuries from football is a concussion. Concussions are technically brain injuries. A head injury from football can range is severity. Proper gear is important, but the contact involved in football can still lead to a concussion.
Brain injury in football
Proper identification of symptoms is vital. Coaches, athletic trainers, physicians, and press box spotters are watching for hard contact. If a player takes longer than normal to get up or they stagger, they are to be removed from play immediately for further assessment.
Click to learn more about concussions in sports and how a player returns to play after recovery.
If you are an athlete suffering from sport injuries resulting from any football activity, JOI can help! We have 13 physical therapy clinics conveniently located in Jacksonville and Northeast FL that specialize in orthopedic rehab. JOI has top orthopedic specialists that can assist with any sport injuries. Call 904-JOI-2000, schedule online, or click the button below. To See a JOI Rehab Therapist, call (904)858-7045.
