The busy Premier League "winter campaign" did not choose to postpone the entire round due to the record number of large-scale infections of the new crown virus, but insisted on continuing for the broadcast and matchday income. But in addition to increasing the risk of contracting the new crown virus, playing high-intensity football games in winter is itself likely to increase the risk of injury to players. A study by The Royal College of Podiatry shows that Premier League players are more likely to be injured in the winter than other European leagues with longer winter breaks.
An injury analysis jointly released by the Royal College of Podiatry and the renowned football data agency OPTA shows that the Premier League has an average of 2.3 injuries per game in the winter, higher than the other four major leagues (1.94 per game). The traditional winter schedule is the main reason for the higher frequency of injuries to Premier League players, which originally scheduled 12 rounds of 120 games in the 55 days from December 1 to January 24, in addition to one FA Cup and two league cup rounds. In the same period, Serie A only arranged 9 rounds of 90 matches, La Liga and Ligue 1 are both 7 rounds of 70 matches, and the least Bundesliga has only 7 rounds of 63 matches, almost half of the Premier League.
The Premier League accounts for 40 per cent of the four major leagues injured during the winter, with a further 21 per cent of them having leg injuries, mostly muscle strains. The average recovery time for Premier League players injured in the winter is 27.9 days.
This year, the Chinese Super League, which was compressed in the winter due to the round of 12, arranged 8 rounds of 64 matches in 23 days, which is comparable to the intensity of the winter battle in the Premier League. In the winter competition of the Chinese Super League, Shandong Taishan international Wu Xinghan, Beijing Guoan's Wang Gang and Guangzhou's Wei Shihao have been injured, and the injuries of other teams have also emerged in an endless stream, which has seriously affected the performance of each team. In previous years, the Chinese Super League almost ended in December, and how to prevent winter kicking injuries, or get professional treatment and rehabilitation after injuries, has always been the focus of the European sports medicine field.
Compared with the top league professional players who can get high-tech treatment equipment and sports medicine new technologies, a large number of low-level league players and amateur football enthusiasts should pay more attention to scientific warm-up, exercise and rehabilitation in winter, understand certain professional sports medicine knowledge, and regularly consult sports medicine experts to ensure that the body is in the best state of movement.
To this end, the reporter specially interviewed Xing Jian, a sports rehabilitation therapist (Master of Rehabilitation Medicine and Physiotherapy), for the majority of football enthusiasts to popularize how to avoid unnecessary injuries when playing football in winter, and how to initially judge the injury and make emergency treatment when the injury occurs, so as to minimize the injury and lay the foundation for faster and better recovery later.
Since 2011, Therapist Xing Jian has been working in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine of the Third Hospital of Peking University as a competent technician, and since 2017, he has served as a member of the Standing Committee of the Occupational Therapy Professional Committee of the Chinese Rehabilitation Medicine Association, and has long been committed to the popularization of rehabilitation medicine science, and is the head of operation of the official WeChat platform of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine of the Third Hospital of Beijing Medical University (bysykfk2015). Dr. Xing Jian is also a football enthusiast, not only often watching the European League and the Chinese Super League, but also enjoying playing football himself. As another football enthusiast, he has a more accurate judgment of winter football injuries.
◆ "Football": Winter is a high incidence of football sports injuries, for amateurs, which injuries are more common?
Xing Jian: When playing football in winter, especially in the colder north, muscle strain injuries are relatively common. Muscle groups that are more prone to strain include: the posterior thigh (that is, the hamstring muscle we often see in sports news), the inner thigh (adductor group), the anterior thigh (quadriceps group), the posterior calf muscle group (calf triceps), and the Achilles tendon strain or tear cannot be ignored. In the south, because the weather is humid and cold, although the absolute temperature is relatively high, but the body temperature is low, if you do not warm up enough before playing, you do not do a good job of keeping warm during the game, which is also very easy to cause muscle strains.
◆ What should you pay attention to before exercising soccer in winter, and what are the common cognitive misunderstandings of soccer enthusiasts in terms of sports health?
Winter temperatures are low, so you should pay attention to keeping warm before playing soccer. And the warmth should be "fully covered from the inside to the outside", and the clothes should be selected to take into account the close-fitting, elastic, warm and breathable functions. Professional sports tights and pants of various sports brands are essential "internal equipment", which is warm and flexible.
Secondly, and very importantly, warm up before kicking. Winter temperature is low, warm-up activities must be sufficient, you can start from jogging, and then do some front kicks, back kicks, around the crotch and other dynamic stretching actions. Then you can perform faster frequency of high leg lifts, small steps, opening and closing jumps and other actions to increase the heart rate, and then carry out 2-3 sets of 15-20 meters sprint, and finally the stage of warming up with the ball. The entire warm-up time should be 30-40 minutes is more appropriate. Football fans should not come to the stadium and immediately start holding the ball, or hastily warm up and make a perfunctory arrangement.
◆ Muscle strain is a relatively common sports injury, fans are familiar with the hamstring muscle, adductor muscle and other strains account for the vast majority of muscle strains. What are the main causes of muscle strain?
Inadequate warm-up is one of the direct causes of most muscle strains, especially in amateur football. Due to the complex changes in the offensive and defensive situation on the field, the instantaneous start of acceleration, emergency stop, change of direction, and retreat in the process of defense requires rapid transformation of muscles in the process of shortening and stretching. If the warm-up is not sufficient, the neuromuscular system is not activated enough, and the rhythm will not keep up with the movements, causing damage.
Secondly, the lack of muscle strength itself can also easily lead to strain. For example, the strength of the muscles before and after the thighs is unbalanced, and the general strength of the back thighs accounts for 60-70% of the strength of the front and back of the thighs, if it is lower than this value, the imbalance of the strength of the front and back of the thighs is easy to cause injury, so it is usually necessary to pay attention to strengthening the muscle groups behind the thighs. In addition, do not ignore the strength control training of the core muscle group, like the plate support movements of various difficulties can be properly practiced, which can help players better control the body movement posture. Finally, we should pay attention to the problem of physical fitness, the temperature is low in winter, and the calorie consumption is significantly higher than usual. Pay attention to replenishing energy between competitions, such as eating a small amount of bananas, chocolates and sports drinks.
◆ How can ordinary football enthusiasts judge themselves about muscle strain after an injury? What are the typical injury manifestations? Without a professional doctor, how can football enthusiasts reduce the aggravation of injuries after injuries, or avoid secondary injuries?
Muscle strain is still relatively easy to quickly judge, because generally there will be local pain after the occurrence of strain, especially when the force is more obvious, so the activity will be affected. In order to avoid aggravated injuries, the movement should be stopped and the injuries observed. If bleeding is pronounced, there will be local compression pain, and there will be a depression or significant bulge on local touch, indicating that the muscle tissue is discontinuous and a rupture has occurred. In this way, the injury is more serious, and it is necessary to stop the activity immediately. The injured person should give local pressure bandage to the painful part, apply ice at the same time, and go to a professional hospital in time for further treatment.
◆ After a muscle strain, how long does it take from treatment to exercise rehabilitation? Is medication, rest and exercise rehabilitation needed to work together to promote body recovery during treatment?
Generally, after muscle strain, the specific recovery time should be comprehensively judged in combination with the injury. If you can still walk close to normal after strain, but there is mild pain when you exert force, it is basically a mild strain, generally 3-4 days, or about a week or so can be recovered. If walking is very influential, the time may be longer, as short as 3-4 weeks, as long as 2-3 months or more. Muscle tissue strains have a shorter recovery time than muscle tendon junctions or tendon strains, which require much slower tissue repair because of poor blood supply.
◆ What are the details of the rehabilitation exercises of the sports rehabilitation process that must be paid attention to? Or is it a widespread cognitive misunderstanding of rehabilitation training?
Muscle strain recovery process should not be anxious, recovery time should be sufficient. Do not "itch your feet", return to the field too early with a high proportion of secondary injuries, and the gain is not worth the loss. In this regard, I believe that fans who are familiar with the five major leagues have learned that many stars are eager to return, resulting in repeated reports of injuries. Usually professional players repeatedly have muscle strains in the same position during the season, and it is quite possible that there is not enough time to recover.
◆ In football, in view of the possibility of muscle strain, what technical actions should be avoided as much as possible, or the frequency and amplitude of technical actions should be reduced?
In fact, amateurs usually play football, more is the main exercise, so in the confrontation of the more fierce "knife mountain ball", "1/2 ball", and the opponent's physical magnitude difference is more, etc., to properly collect a collection of actions, do not directly fight the body, do a good job of self-protection. In addition, in winter, on the court, we should pay more attention to running without the ball, one is the tactical need, and the other is to put the body in a "hot car" state to avoid sudden activation and reaction.
◆When playing football in winter, what details should I pay attention to after the game? Are post-race relaxation movements different from other seasons?
Winter competitions are intermittent or over, the first time to pay attention to keep warm, the "high temperature" state in the game will plummet due to the cessation of sports. Larger temperature changes can trigger illnesses, such as colds. Secondly, we must pay attention to relaxation, 5-10 minutes of simple stretching can relieve fatigue to a certain extent, accelerate physical recovery, can not be directly "finished" at the end of the game, and start the dinner and supper to "exchange feelings".