As soccer grows in popularity, so do these injuries

Soccer is popular at the professional level but it’s also gaining traction among college and youth athletes, just ask the thousands of soccer moms and dads standing on the sidelines. But as more people take to the field, soccer injuries are becoming increasingly common.

“Soccer is a great sport for building strength, flexibility and endurance, but there are common injuries that occur on the field,” says Dr. Hui Zhang, an orthopedic surgeon at Aurora Health Care. “Conventional low ankle sprains and high ankle sprains are being diagnosed more often in kids who play soccer. In addition, foot sprains, such as LisFranc (midfoot) injuries, as well as foot and ankle fractures can happen.”

Common injuries

Due to the running, kicking and pivoting in the sport, the lower body is most vulnerable to injury, especially the knees and ankles. Dr. Zhang highlights four injuries that may be treated with physical therapy or surgery:

• Conventional low ankle sprain: A sprain of the ligaments that connect the fibula bone to the talus and calcaneus are most often treated non-operatively. Instead, physical therapy accelerates recovery, while also helping to prevent future injuries. That’s important because having recurrent ankle sprains can lead to ankle instability, which may ultimately need surgery.
• High ankle sprain: A sprain of the ligaments that connect the fibula bone to the tibia (or shin bone) may also be treated non-operatively, but sometimes surgical stabilization is needed.
• Ankle fractures: Fracture is the medical term for a broken bone. Ankle fractures sometimes require surgical treatment to restore alignment and stability of the ankle and prevent post-traumatic arthritis caused by wear and tear to the ankle joint cartilage.
• Knee injuries: ACL tears and Meniscus injuries are commonly seen in soccer especially with non-contact pivoting injuries. These injuries often require surgical treatment to restore the stability of the knee joint.

Achilles tendon ruptures also can occur, but more often in young adult and middle-aged athletes who play recreationally on the weekends, also known as weekend warriors. This injury is often treated surgically to optimize recovery and to help preserve as much calf and push-off strength as possible.

Injury prevention

To help prevent injury, Dr. Zhang first advises that you participate in multiple sports. “Injury rates have been shown to increase when kids specialize in one specific sport at an early age. Staying engaged in multiple sports helps prevent major injury,” he says.

Dr. Zhang adds that adhering to a strong stretching and training regimen helps reduce injuries. Also, a healthy nutritious diet helps fuel growing bodies during development.

What do to when injured

When an injury occurs, it can be difficult to figure out if you should go to the emergency room or urgent care.

“The emergency room is the best place to go if an injury is so severe that you cannot put weight on the extremity, there’s a deep open cut or laceration, or there’s an obvious deformity,” says Dr. Zhang. “If the injury is painful with a lot of swelling, but you can still put a little weight on it, and there’s no deformity, urgent care is a reasonable option.”

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