Massive differences between league and non-league football injury’s

A physio at Redcar Athletic Football Club has spoken about the increasing amounts of injuries in football - and outlined what can be done to prevent them.”

Injury in sport is a massive thing and always has an impact on the sportsperson, however in football there is a drastic difference.

When playing for a professional football club players have access to high quality staff and medical equipment, such as portable X-rays and MRI, this is so beneficial as it means a player can be diagnosed and treated as soon as possible.

However, if you move to the bottom of the league structure you hit leagues like the northern league which have teams like Redcar athletic, Boro rangers and Marske united these teams can be heavy impacted by injury.

Some of the top injuries in non-league football include concussions due to head clashes, ankle sprains caused by over twisting or contact form others and hamstring strains which can be caused by over sprinting.

An injury that has put a lot of players out for sometimes most of the season is the ACL injury,

Physio for Redcar athletic louis said:

‘The way I like to approach any player’s injury is in ‘phases’ as we call them. The first phase is called the ‘acute phase’ which consists of pain and swelling management, isometric strengthening of the affected area’

Injuries for players can be a massive thing especially in non- league as most of the players have a job outside of their football, and having an injury like a torn ACL can affect other parts of their life.

Some injuries in football are not always physical depression and anxiety also has a huge effect on sports players statistics from the FA show that 1/10 people are affected by mental health which equals out to millions of football players across all grassroots football.

Louis also spoke about the retirement transition.

‘The transition from structured training and team environments to retirement can be challenging’

Football is a challenging sport whether its pro or not and there are problems all the time and the current one is injury’s as the statistics keep rising, ‘Every player is unique, and every injury is different’