Injury Prevention Soccer Specific Warm-Up

Injury Prevention Soccer Specific Warm-Up

Injury Prevention

Injuries occur in any sporting event. Injury prevention exercises require an emphasis on

form and function. Injury prevention exercises focus on muscular balance and muscular

patterning. With all injury prevention exercises the most important aspect is to be “Form

Perfect”. There are figures and images attached to this document that will clarify the

correct form for the performance of the injury prevention portion of the warm-up. An

integral part of any injury prevention program is early diagnosis and correction of

biomechanical errors and mechanical disturbances. These can manifest with or without

pain.

Warm-Up

Warm-up is an important aspect of injury prevention and improved performance. The

goal of a warm up is to prepare the body for exercise. It should consist of both general

and specific exercises1. These exercises should combine upper body and lower body

combined movements with the overall goal of warming the tissue and preparing the

cardiovascular and nervous systems for sport. Warm-up is an ideal place to insert injury

prevention exercises as they improve muscular imbalances, movement dysfunctions,

and immediately work to increase muscular activity and increase the blood flow to the

muscle.

There are several components in a sport specific warm-up. Firstly we need to look at

the overall demands of the sport that we are warming up for. Soccer requires very

strenuous physical demands on the athlete. There is a combination of jogging,

sprinting, changing of directions, striking a ball, and physical contact. With all of these

varying demands on the body during a soccer game it is important to integrate similar

demands into the warm-up.

To see the exercise examples please download the program

Download the plan

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