Soccer is characterized as a complex collection of movements including running, short sprints, rapid decelerations, turning, kicking and tackling. Because of the nature of its game, injuries for soccer players cannot be easily prevented. Over the years, technology advances have provided players with new kinds of treatments. After a bit of research, it is said that 12-35 injuries occur in 1000 hours of game play and most injuries occur on the lower parts of the body from the hip down. Muscular strains are the most common injury in soccer, followed by contusions or bruises and sprain/tear ligaments. Most injuries have a 22% chance of it occurring again.
Soccer is a contact sport, which means body contact is allowed. However, in some cases injuries are not cause by any contact at all. Injuries such as ankle sprains or ligament tears and the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) are caused by sudden changes of movement. Proper footwear and bad surfaces are regarded as the most common causes of non-contact injuries. An injury can keep players out of the game for weeks, to months depending on how bad the injury is. ACL’s can force players to retire early, but with proper treatment players can be back in 6 to 8 months.
All professional clubs employ full time medical staff in order to reduce the recovery time. Most injury treatment comprises of physiotherapy which uses physical modalities such as ice, electrotherapy, massage, mobilization, manipulation and exercise to optimize the healing process.
Some sport medicine doctors are interested in new ways to heal players. Growth Factor Therapy is one of the recent findings and is being used in healing processes today although they provide many risks. Direct injection of synthetic Growth Factors and Cytokines can be useful, but because the life cycle of these substances is short, repeated injections may be required. This is uncomfortable and increases the risk of infection. Because of this drawback new techniques have been sought to deliver these substances to the injury site. A few other ways have been tested but pose serious risks which players do not want to take.
Another new treatment which has been recently used is Low Light Laser Therapy (LLLT) even though it is not 100% proved to be effective. Clinical applications that show some potential of effectiveness include treating soft tissue injury, chronic pain and wound healing. However, it may have even more potential in treating other problems such as tinnitus, nerve regeneration and viral/bacterial infections.
The most important part of the healing process is resting. This provides time for the injury to recover and for the player to get back into maximum ability.
http://www.physioroom.com/news/news_story.php?id=667
http://www.footy4kids.co.uk/Soccer_injuries_and_how_to_treat_them.htm
http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/knee_injuries/a/knee2.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photobiomodulation
http://www.springerlink.com/content/w464466763m55436/