The Preventive Warm up to Reduce No-Contact Injury Risk in Amateur Male Soccer Players

Abstract

The study aims to describe the effects of preventive exercise introduced in a soccer traditional warm up on lower limb injury risk in amateur male soccer players. A total number of 76 no-contact injuries were recorded, 80.27% of them to the lower limbs, specifically in the: thigh (46.8%), calves (4.6%), adductor (15.1%), knee (12.9%) and ankle (20.6%). The number of injuries to the lower limbs was greater in the CG, comprising 72.1% compared to the 27.9% from the EG. Furthermore, when comparing the injuries in both groups depending on the muscle group or the joint, the same thing occurs: thigh (CG = 18 and EG = 13), calves (CG = 3 and EG = 1), adductor (CG = 8 and EG = 2), knee (CG = 10 and EG = 1) and ankle (CG = 10 and EG = 2). Thigh muscle injuries were identified as follows: in the CG, the 87.7% in the posterior region, the 12.3% in the anterior region; in the EG, the 88.6% in the posterior region and the 11.4% in the anterior region. Statistically significant differences (p < 0.01) were observed for the values of adductor, knee and ankle injury. The exercises that integrated the traditional warm-up were functional to reduce the risk of injury only for the adductor muscles; no statistically significant difference was observed for calves and thigh. For the hamstrings and the rectus femoris, there is a need to introduce exercises with external loads.