Athlete Prevention pack: FIELD SPORTS
Soccer and field hockey both require an incredible amount of skill, coordination and agility to move swiftly and confidently up and down the field. While there may be less contact than other sports, the reactive changes of direction and sudden starts and stops required by these sports can make staying healthy during the season a challenge.
While it is not possible to fully eliminate injury risk with preparation, there are several things soccer and field hockey players can do during the summer beyond general strength and conditioning to prep their body to stay healthy this season.
Common Field Sport Injuries
Fall field sports commonly experience a variety of non-contact injuries during the season, including:
Low back pain
Hamstring strains
Groin strains
Knee pain and sprains
Calf strains
Ankle sprains
These injuries can range from minor, with only a few days lost from play, to season-ending. As mentioned, there are certainly circumstances where injuries are unavoidable, but there are also many things we can do to prep your body to minimize risk and time lost from injury.
Prepping your body before the season starts is the easiest way to maintain strong performance during the season. We recommend including "prehab" into your weekly lifts, taking time during your warm-up and in your accessory exercise choices to build stability and mobility in key areas of the body.
Mobilize the Hips
Knee and back health are dependent on the muscles around your hip. Many non-contact knee sprains occur during cutting and dodging when the hip is not properly positioned or trained to react appropriately to the change in direction. For field hockey players, strength in the hips also deloads the back, allowing players to stay low comfortably without bending forward from the back. Building appropriate hip mobility helps support effective strengthening in the gym, which translates to better strength and control on the field.
Target the Groin
Repetitive cutting and twisting movements require high levels of reactive strength and elasticity from the groin. In soccer, kicking patterns further load the groin, making it a common area of injury for players of all skill levels. For optimal groin health during the season, strengthen with a combination of concentric, eccentric and isometric exercises to best reflect the varied demands of sport.
Work the Lengthened Hamstring
Hamstring strains typically occur in the late swing phase of sprinting, where the hamstrings have the highest eccentric load, or load while lengthening. Keeping your hamstrings healthy requires that we train them to work at length as well, moving beyond leg curls and lunges into nordics and sliding curls. It is also important to incorporate challenging single leg variations, because sprinting is a reciprocal single leg activity.
Bulletproof The Ankles
Your ankle and foot are the first parts of the body to come in contact with the ground when walking and running and handle between 5-10x body weight when running. Limiting injuries, like sprains, Achilles strains and shin splints, requires making sure your ankle is prepared to receive and propel force repetitively and in multiple directions. Prioritize multi-planar stability, plyometrics and loaded strength for optimal health.
Off-season injury prevention, strength and conditioning can't prevent all injuries, but it is the best action athletes can take to prepare their bodies for the certain and uncertain moments in sport.
If you are a soccer or field hockey athlete struggling to overcome past injuries or uncertain where to focus to propel your game play to the next level this upcoming season, our athlete injury prevention pack consists of
8 40-minute sessions
Sport-specific movement and performance assessments
Hands-on treatment (including dry needling, Graston and cupping)
Individualized prevention programming including mobility and stability exercises tailored to you
Exercise progression as training and sport demands increase
This will allow us to identify and target underlying deficits and imbalances so you can make the most of your time on the field.
Interested in learning more? Book your first session today!
