2022’s Top 7 Soccer Injury Prevention Exercises
Soccer is a game that is loved around the whole world, and it is also the most popular and loved sport. It brings lots of action while playing as well as watching. However, with all the playing action there are some issues as well. The most common issue is getting injured while playing soccer.
Sometimes you may have seen a soccer player suddenly stop running without anything happening to him. The reason is that most soccer injuries are related to muscle stress and strain. The good part here is that most of these muscle-related injuries can be prevented by doing the right soccer exercises.
So, here we will be telling you the top 7 soccer injury prevention exercises that will help you out in 2022.
7 Best Soccer Injury Prevention Exercises
Injury prevention exercises for soccer players can be vital because this will not only prevent them from getting injured during a crucial game but will also help them perform well. So, below are the top physical therapy soccer drills as well as soccer injury prevention exercises
1. Nordic hamstring curl
The back of your legs and thighs are the most common areas of getting soccer injuries. These injuries are surely because of putting more stress on your body, for example playing hard for too long without taking any breaks or sprinting again and again for longer times.
The Nordic Hamstring curl is the exercise that is the solution to prevent such injuries because they activate all the 3 muscles present in the hamstring. You can do this exercise by kneeling on a soft mat and then lowering the front of your body while keeping your back straight.
At the same time, some equipment or partner needs to hold your feet by the ankles. In this way, a complete stretch to these muscles is provided that helps in preventing the injury.
2. Copenhagen plank
While you are playing soccer if you get any sort of imbalance in the hip region or there is abductor strain then you will immediately become unable to play. This can be an extremely painful situation as well, but the soccer injury exercises can help you prevent from going through this injury.
While planks are said to be hard for people and most people hate them, this is a type of plank that will be extremely beneficial for your body in case of any injury. While it prevents the abductor strains, it will also strengthen the region.
So, here you will be doing a side plank with your top leg on a surface that is almost as high as your head and the lower leg can be on the floor at the level where your hand is resting. Here you need to maintain a straight line by lifting your hips. This will bring the necessary strength that you need.
3. Side-lying hip abduction isometrics
This exercise is often confused with the one we were discussing above. While it looks pretty similar, the benefits are also similar, but this holds more benefits than that. Here you need to lie on the ground or mat with your lower arm under your head.
While you are laying on your die you need to keep your hips steady and lift the top leg. Holding the top leg will be hard for sure but it will bring strength for your abductor, hip, legs, and clamshells.
4. Reverse Nordic curl
Well, you know about the Nordic hamstring curls, this is also the same thing but in the other direction. While you were lowering your body towards the front while kneeling on the ground. Here you need to place your ankles on the ground as well as your knees and move backward. In this way, your body will be in a reverse curl.
It will be the best exercise to strengthen your quads but make sure that you did suffer from any knee injury before doing it.
5. Single leg heel raise
While leg injuries are common, foot injuries also count among the most common ones and one of the exercises that we will be sharing here is about strengthening the muscles in your feet and ankles. What you need to do is to stand on one foot with the knee of that leg being straight. The other foot must be in the air.
Then you need to raise the heel of the foot that you are standing on and hold it there for at least 5 seconds. Repeating it 10 times can be highly beneficial.
6. Single leg toe touches
This gets another extremely beneficial exercise for your whole body, but the main focus here will be on your hamstrings and lower back. What you need to do here is to stand on one leg and touch the toes of that leg with the hand of the other side. Bending knees is allowed in this exercise. Doing this alternatively for both sides will loosen your muscles and strengthen them as well.
7. Dynamic leg swings
The dynamic leg swings are good for preventing injuries in your hip region as they warm up the muscles at your hip region as well as warm up the hip joint. Doing this exercise can be extremely helpful for running as well as sprints because it enhances our mobility as well as flexibility.
Apart from the hip muscles they also work on the groin muscle, hamstrings, calf, and quads bring a long list of benefits for your body.
Final Remarks:
There is no way to completely stop soccer injuries because they can happen for one of many reasons. Sometimes it is unfair gameplay while sometimes you are putting more pressure on your body. However, ACL & PCL Rehab exercises, and several other soccer specific prehab exercises can help you to stay away from these injuries.
Even if you get these exercises sometimes the rehab can make you good to go again within a few minutes. If you are passionate about playing professional soccer, then you must know all of these soccer injury prevention exercises.
