Are you an avid fan of football? Football is a sport that’s beloved by many. It remains one of the most popular sports worldwide, and it’s why known conferences created tournaments and events so that the best of the best teams can compete against each other. This way, fans can determine the best team of the season.
Whether you watch professional college football or the local football matches near you, your favorite players are still at risk of getting the common football injuries mentioned on this page. These injuries can occur for many reasons, and if you continue reading, you’ll know why your favorite players got these injuries.
Ankle Sprains
Are you watching college football and observing the NCAAF live odds? It would help if you also read the players’ injury reports this season if you want to make the most out of your bets. An ankle sprain is the most common injury that football players can get. It can be a tear in the ligaments of a player’s ankle or merely an overstretched ligament. These ligaments hold part of the ankle in place and thus connect it to other bones in the leg and foot.
If there’s a tear, it can be excruciating for a player to stand or walk, let alone play on the field. There’s swelling and pain, and moving the ankle can be very difficult. It may be a common injury, but it’s still painful.
Let’s talk about the different levels of sprain before you proceed to the types of ankle sprains.
- Grade 1 Sprain: There’s minimal tenderness and swelling to the ankle due to slight stretching and damage to the ligament’s fibers.
- Grade 2 Sprain: A player would have a decreased range of motion and possible instability due to the partial tearing of the ligament. A physician would observe an abnormal looseness to the ankle joints.
- Grade 3 Sprain: The most painful sprain out of the levels is a Grade 3 sprain, where there’s a complete tear of the ligament. A player’s physical examination findings would show significant swelling and tenderness instability due to the complete tear and rupture of the ligament.
The following are two types of ankle sprains:
- Inversion ankle sprains: A player twists their foot upward, and the ankle rolls inward. This type is the most common one.
- Eversion ankle sprains: It’s when the ankle would roll outward and tear the deltoid ligaments.
Knee Injuries
The following are other knee injuries that can happen to your favorite football players:
- Osgood-Schlatter’s syndrome
- Posterior cruciate ligament injury
- Patellofemoral pain syndrome
- Tendonitis bursitis
- The occasional fractures
Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL)
This occurs when a player injures his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). It’s the most common significant knee injury in the sport. This injury doesn’t occur because of contact with another player. It occurs when a player suddenly changes in direction.
Players must undergo reconstructive surgery if they want to play again in a football game. Without ACL reconstruction, a player would have knee instability that would limit their ability to play since playing football requires sharp and fast moves.
Medial Collateral Ligament (MCL) Injury
The medial collateral ligament (MCL) would get injured due to the stress and pressure on the outside part of the knee. An MCL injury can be anything from a stretch, partial tear, or a complete ligament tear.
A football player with an MCL injury has the following common symptoms:
- Knee swelling
- Pain or tenderness in the inside of the joint
- Locking and catching of the knee when they move it
- Furthermore, an MCL injury usually co-occurs with an ACL injury.
Meniscal Tears
Whenever a football player kicks the ball, they’re very susceptible to getting a meniscus injury because of the large forces created whenever they kick it. The knee meniscus is torn traumatically due to a twisted, slightly flexed knee. It can also be torn due to degeneration.
As you can see, an average football player can get a lot of knee injuries.
Hip Pointers
This occurs when there’s a deep bruise to a player’s ridge of bone on the upper outside of the hip called the iliac crest. This injury occurs when a player gets a direct blow to their hip or whenever they fall hard, which, as you know, is very common in football and other contact sports like hockey.
For players who want to reduce the risk of getting hip pointers, wearing protective gear when playing sports is usually recommended.
Shoulder Dislocations
We all know about shoulder dislocations; football players commonly get this injury. It’s when the top of the bone in their upper arm or humerus comes out of the socket in their shoulder (scapula). It can be a partial or complete dislocation. Let’s talk more about it!
- Partial shoulder dislocation: The bone would return to the scapula independently.
- Complete shoulder dislocation: The bone hasn’t returned to its proper place and would require medical intervention. If a player gets a shoulder dislocation, they shouldn’t force it back themselves since it would require medical professionals.
Players get their shoulder dislocated due to the following common causes:
- Hit to an outstretched arm
- Forceful throwing, hitting, or lifting
- hard fall onto the shoulder
Heat stroke
Due to the insulated uniform of football players, it increases the risk of heat stroke for these players. Heat stroke can occur anytime if the air temperature is above 80 degrees and the relative humidity is above 40%.
Final Thoughts
Football players get injuries most of the time. That’s why it’s commonly recommended that they wear protective equipment and a good pair of shoes to support their powerful movements. Football injuries occur due to under-preparation and the movements players make.