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