Got this question from an email subscriber of mine asking about warming up for a warm up. Read on:
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“Paul… I watched that world cup final on Sunday night and couldn’t help but thinking about that German player, not sure of his name now, who missed out because of an injury in the warm up.
It got me thinking… if something like a calf injure can happen in a warm up, do we all now need to be considering a pre warm up, warm up?
I’m a coach with junior football team and am wracking my brain, thinking of ways to get my lads to be even more prepared for their games. Any tips of advice?
– Andy. 37, Sedgefield.
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Let me start by saying that what you witnessed on Sunday night rarely ever happens in top sport. I’m not talking about a German team winning, I’m talking about the type of injury to Sami Khedira which happened at the most inconvenient of times… just 20 minutes before the start of a world cup final.
Chances are that with all of the preparation, sometimes these things just happen. And from my own personal of experience of top level sport, I can reveal to you that the Argentinian team would more than likely have a fair idea that it was probably going too anyways.
Let me explain.
See, there’s often a calculated gamble going on during the selection of at least 2-3 players of any pro football team. That means at least two or three of the payers you’ll be watching from the stands on a Saturday afternoon, will have had some problem or other through the week and just enough to raise concern from the medical team.
That doesn’t mean we’d rule them out just because of a “little niggle” that may or not re-surface. And despite sports “science” and all of the information it brings to the game… doesn’t mean the medical guys always get it right. Not possible. Not when you’re dealing with human beings who are all very different and react differently to the same injuries.
So my bet is that the medical teal will have had a warning sign earlier in the day, maybe even the day before, that Kadhir was one of the 2 or 3 always carrying something going into the game.
And as a medical man, it’s your job to pass on your thoughts to the guy at the top (the manager) and present the facts and the chances of that player making through, as you see it. It’s then up to him to make the final call and how much he wants to gamble. Despite what you might think, it is nearly always the manager who has the final say (unless it’s something like a head injury of course).
A few tips on this: If you’re involved with junior teams, you maybe need to ask and listen to players, just that bit more to discover something like this before a game. Even just watch them. They won’t always be great at describing symptoms too you, but I usually find when it comes to children or teenagers, you’ve got to go back and ask the same question in a different way, about four or five times. Only then, do you get any idea of what may or may not be concerning them.
And some tips to stop a calf injury in a warm up:
No sprinting, kicking a ball or jumping until you’ve jogged for at least 5-6 minutes and just enough to see the colour change in your cheeks. No static stretching… only the “dynamic” type where you’re on the move continuously and remember to cool down at the end. Hint: Many injuries are carried over to the next game because of a failure to cool down properly the end.
If you are struggling with any injury, then I invite you to visit this webpage: www.paulgoughphysio.com/sports-injury and there you will find a special report titled “The 7 Secret Recovery Strategies That Only The Pro Athletes Know And Use…”.
It’s a “tips sheet” I’ve made available for you. There’s just 13 free digital copies of the special report containing all of the EXACT recovery tactics I used on the Pro-footballers, including calf injuries, that any person can follow, when you go to this web page today: www.paulgoughphysio.com/sports-injury
Enjoy.
Paul
Specialist Physio Clinics : Darlington – Durham – Guisborough – Hartlepool
Tel: 01429 866771
You might know Paul as an expert Columnist who writes weekly health articles for TWO of the North East's biggest daily Newspapers, The Northern Echo And The Hartlepool Mail, he is a regular Speaker at Industry Seminars around the globe and a Radio Personality, often heard on the BBC. Paul has been an expert guest on dozens of Radio shows and regularly interviewed in newspapers, magazines and trade journals all over the world, including the Guardian.
Paul’s background included working extensively in the Premier League with a Top Professional Football Team, and since quitting his job in Professional Football in 2007, his Physio Practice has become the fastest growing in the UK and biggest in the North East. So successful, that companies like BUPA, ASDA, The Vela Group And Coast & Country, repeatedly retain his Physio company's services to keep healthy their own staff and workforce. Paul Gough Physio Rooms is now a large multi-physio, multi clinic speciality practice in Darlington, Durham, Guisborough and Hartlepool.
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