Reporter Han Bing reported that there was once an English word, which was not known to most people in the English-speaking world until 2002. Metatarsal, metatarsal, is the 5 most difficult bones to heal in a player's foot as Beckham's serious injury that year became the hot word of the year. Even, as Gary Neville, Murphy, Rooney, Irving, Parker, Gerrard, Ashley Cole, Terry and other English players have injured this part, it is known as the "Curse of England".
Not only the England players, but also Messi, Neymar, Neuer, Jesus and even the former coach of Greater Paris, Tuchel, have also suffered a serious metatarsal injury. The latest "metatarsal curse" victim is the French centre-back Yumtitti, who has just renewed his contract with Barca, who originally planned to cut his salary through the renewal and hoped to sell him to cash out, but Yumtiti was forced to undergo surgery due to a fracture of the fifth metatarsal bone, and the recovery period will be as long as 3 months, which almost means that the future of the season is completely scrapped and the winter window has become a failure.
Similarly, metatarsal injuries are also very common injuries for amateur football enthusiasts, but most people do not have a scientific and accurate judgment on metatarsal injuries, and often mistakenly believe that the foot delays treatment. These 5 small bones are crucial for players but extremely vulnerable to damage and difficult to recover from the "unbearable pain".
Five metatarsal bones, vital
Metatarsal, Chinese name metatarsal, is a two-word word that is unfamiliar to most people in the English and Chinese-speaking worlds. The metatarsal bone is not the familiar phalangeal bone, but the bone that connects the ankle bone to the toe of each human foot, and the first metatarsal bone connects the thumb of the foot, followed by the second to fifth metatarsal bone. Beckham was cut off by Duschel in 2002 for a second metatarsal bone, as was Parker in 2004. Rooney injured the fourth metatarsal, the second to fourth metatarsals were thinner, and there was more chance of fractures, but the players were more injured by the fifth metatarsal bone on the outer side, Irving, Messi, Gerrard, Jesus, Neymar, Tuchel and this time Yumtitti were all injured here, and the recovery period was relatively long.
Of the five metatarsal bones, the first metatarsal is the strongest because it connects the big toe, and the probability of fracture is small. The base of the fifth metatarsal is a pine bone, often fractured due to violent contraction of the short muscle of the fibula. The metatarsal fracture of the general player, especially the fifth metatarsal, is mainly divided into two types, one is a fatigue fracture, the tarsal bone will produce greater stress when the player runs in large quantities, and it is easy to cause fatigue fracture in the case of long-term fatigue. The second is excessive external force, such as heavy pressure, stampede, collision, or excessive spraining of the foot inverted foot, resulting in fractures of the metatarsal base.
Metatarsal fractures are common in soccer because soccer matches primarily use foot control, passing, and running, including defensive tackles that result in stamping, bumping, and sprains on the grass. In addition, the design of sneakers that are too light and wrap tight, which provides less protection for the foot surface of players, is also one of the important reasons for metatarsal fracture injuries. The metatarsal bone is only a smaller skeleton of the human body, but because it is located in the foot that supports human walking and running, the degree of damage can be imagined for players who rely almost entirely on the foot for sports.
Usually it takes at least 4-8 weeks or even longer for a metatarsal fracture to heal completely, depending on the severity of the injury. Coupled with the recovery training and run-in training period after bone healing, the time from injury to appearance is even longer. Some players continue to injure their metatarsals in their careers because after the first injury, the metatarsals become fragile even if they heal, and it is easy for old injuries to recur. Beckham fractured his second metatarsal bone before the 2002 World Cup, and it was a miracle that he recovered in just 7 weeks and participated in the World Cup. But also because of the psychological shadow of the recurrence of the old injury, when the quarter-final against Brazil, he jumped up to avoid Carlos's tackle, causing the Brazilian team to launch a counterattack, and Luo Completed the kill.
Talking about the "Curse of England"
Metatarsals, especially the fifth metatarsal fracture, are disfiguring, especially in British football, largely due to their overly intensive schedule and more physical confrontation than in the other four major leagues. And the recovery period for the metatarsal fracture is difficult to predict, Beckham's 7-week comeback is a miracle, but the same fifth metatarsal fracture of Gerrard and Parker, the former took 10 weeks to recover, the latter for 34 weeks can not return to the court. Rooney's first injury was in the fourth metatarsal, where he recuperated for 14 weeks and was in poor form while catching up with the 2006 World Cup, ending England's World Cup journey with a red card in the quarter-finals.
Owen, who also fractured his fifth metatarsal, recuperated for 17 weeks and implanted a metal nail at the metatarsal position to hold the bone in place. Murphy, who fractured his metatarsal two weeks before the 2002 World Cup, not only missed the World Cup, but also recovered for 21 weeks. Gary Neville fractured his fifth metatarsal bone in his left foot in the Champions League semi-finals in April, sharing Murphy's illness. Messi missed the Club World Cup in 2006 after three months of injury suspension, and Neymar missed the crucial Champions League knockout match between Paris and Real Madrid in 2018, and although he caught up with the World Cup, he was in poor shape.
The metatarsal fractures that frighten players are not particularly serious injuries compared to torn cruciate ligaments in the knee and fractured tibia-fibula, but the most difficult injuries on the football pitch to treat. Fixing the bone position through a plaster cast or protective boots and then resting is almost the only treatment. Metatarsal fractures are often accompanied by defects to the bone and surrounding soft tissues, and although microsurgical repair with anastomotic flaps of bone is already available, bone healing can only be waited.
A fracture of the metatarsal bone forces a player to be unable to play for at least 2 months, and the recovery period varies from person to person and is prone to recurrence. At the age of 18, Rooney suffered a fracture of the metatarsal bone in his left foot, and then the metatarsal fracture of his right foot recurred several times, which seriously affected his career development, which was the result of Rooney's accelerated recovery with the help of hyperbaric oxygen chamber technology. As for Parker, he almost ruined his entire career with a fracture of the metatarsal bone. German goalkeeper Neuer also suffered a metatarsal fracture twice in five months, resulting in a long period of recuperation.
The miracle of returning to the field six weeks after a fracture of the fifth metatarsal bone, like England striker Nugent, is very rare. And his secret is to drink plenty of milk — because bones need more calcium to heal. However, the rehabilitation effect for most players is not obvious, because the pressure on the feet of modern players is very different from 10-15 years ago, except for improving the drainage of "harder" lawns, lighter and thinner shoes are less supportive than shoes as heavy as stones in ancient times, and also increase the pressure on the player's metatarsals.
As kinematics expert Richard Higgins puts it, faster and stronger players, higher-tech pitches and thinner shoes are working together to create more metatarsal injuries.