A sprain is an injury which generally occurs to your ligaments. This injury is usually caused by a sudden overstretching where your ligaments are generally only stretched out.
However if they are completely torn, you should expect a longer recovery period. In worst case a surgery may also be necessary.
Degrees
A sprain is generally detected by using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and is graded into four main degrees:
1. Minor tears or stretching of your ligaments.
2. A tear of your ligament that is often followed by pain or swelling.
3. A complete rupture.
4. The last degree is the most severe and actually breaks your ligament along with some of your bones and will require surgery.
Symptoms and Signs
The general signs and symptoms that are usually associated with a sprain injury are:
- Inflammation
- Localized pain
- Swelling
- Hard to keep balance
- Impossible to walk properly
Joints Involved
Although any joint can experience a sprain, some of the more common include:
Your ankle – An ankle sprain is hard to recover from and you may also suffer pain several months after your injury.
Your knee – The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) of your knee is probably one of the most discussed sprain injuries. Knee injuries are very disabling and unfortunately pretty common among soccer players.
Your wrist – A common sprain but it will generally heal pretty quickly.
Prevention
You can prevent a sprain injury by using proper safety equipment for your wrist, ankle and knee.
Other prevention methods are warming up properly and perform regular stretching before and after your soccer games.
Treatment
The modality for sprain injuries can be remembered as PRICE which stands for:
- Protect
- Rest
- Ice
- Compression
- Elevation
Using ice and compression will not decrease your pain and swelling but will help you to control it while you injury starts to heal by itself.
Summary
Keep in mind that you should always consider to visit a doctor before starting to make your own diagnosis and treatment.
Keep in mind also that soccer is a collision sport and you will unfortunately get injured soon or later.
However, the most soccer injuries are cause due to poor warm ups or insufficient physical conditioning.
You should therefore never start a soccer game if you feel tired or if you have not warmed up properly!
I see a lot of new soccer players think that this advice doesn’t apply to them. Trust me, it really does.
You want to make sure that you are always thinking about the battle for your long term health.
If you take care of your health, you will be able to play soccer for a very long time!
