With the Indian Super League (ISL) round the corner, there is a lot of football chatter in the air. Pune, which is represented by FC Pune City, is also home to almost a hundred amateur football clubs with thousands of talented footballers playing the beautiful game.
But a game doesn’t distinguish between a pro and an amateur. Ligaments, fractures and muscle tears are common injuries at all levels of the game. After a game on the field, amateurs go back to their jobs or education. This makes it even more crucial to keep them fit as an injury can mess up these important areas of their everyday life. The bottomline is — everyone needs to look after themselves.
What keeps the pros going?
Footballing ability and skill are the main factors but if you’re not fit to play, you won’t get the chance to display your skills on the pitch.
Professional footballers work immensely hard on their fitness to increase their strength, flexibility, endurance, agility, speed and power through carefully planned programmes which can be done in a variety of ways — by working out in the gym, on the field, in the pool and so on. They need to look after themselves well enough to give their best to the game.
Why prevention is better than cure
Every sport has key injuries that are linked to certain movement patterns and it is essential to work on these patterns to prevent injury. For example, single leg standing or landing is a key part of football. Hence, the right muscles need to be strengthened to ensure good stability across the body when in these positions. This calls for smart and effective football-specific strength and conditioning.
Similarly, stiff joints or tight muscles can lead to ankle sprains or knee ligament injuries and so on. This is when one should use the concept of 'RAMP' – Raise your heart rate, Activate your muscles, Mobilise your joints and Practice your sports-specific movements. It will ensure that you will be ready for the next 90 minutes of the game.
The FIFA 11+ is an excellent example of what a football-specific warm up should look like as it covers all relevant areas. Players can also borrow ideas from this to design a good home-based work out. Warm ups, activation drills, cool-downs and recovery work are not just meant for professionals, if you play football, you need it just as much.
How to deal with injury
Injuries will happen, you can’t really stop a nasty two footed tackle or a badly maintained playing surface from causing you grief. But staying fit will definitely reduce the chances. A sensible approach to most forms of non-serious injuries is POLICE – Protect, Optimally Load, Ice, Compress and Elevate.
At the same time, common sense needs to prevail and a more painful or grievous injury needs to be looked at by a medical professional. When rest is advised for an injured body part, you should continue to exercise the uninjured parts. This will make your rehabilitation and eventual return from injury much quicker and easier. Also the stronger you are before injury, the easier your rehabilitation will be.
Another often neglected issue is absence of a first-aid trained personnel at football venues. Coaches, managers, players and venue organisers need to be educated in basic first aid and basic CPR. You do not need to be a medical professional to learn this.
Learn from the professionals
There is a lot of advice available on the internet when it comes to injuries, rehabilitation, strength-building and conditioning. Speaking to peers who have had similar injuries does help but its always best to consult a professional. Our bodies have individual variances and the way every person functions when running, kicking, jumping and landing is different. These are the fine areas that only an expert will be able to notice and fix for you.
When and how much to rest, how much to exercise, what kind of work out to do and how to do it, and what kind of a diet plan to follow are areas where professional footballers can guide you best.
Luckily, Pune has some really experienced and knowledgeable sports medicine professionals including dietitians, physiotherapists, surgeons, and strength-building and conditioning experts who's assessment and advice will go a long way in keeping you game-ready.
What matters most?
With most amateurs either studying or working, it does get difficult to keep up the whole fitness routine. There are always ways though to work out effectively and keep yourself fit even within a limited time frame. You just have to find what works best for you. At the end of the day it all comes down to how much and how well you want to play the game, and how hard are you willing to work for it.
You need to stay fit to play football at any level and that’s the right way to do things!
(Having started his career in Pune, Winston Luke is currently a senior physiotherapist based in London and also works with Chelsea Football Clubs Academy.)
