A LEADING sports physiotherapist believes there will be an “inevitable” rise in injuries when football returns in England due to the short preparation time for players to get back up to speed.
The Premier League are hoping to resume the season in June but it was only on Tuesday that clubs voted to proceed to the second phase of ‘Project Restart’ with contact training.
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A rise in injuries, particularly to the hamstrings, is “inevitable” when the Premier League season resumesCredit: Reuters
Physios, sports scientists and club doctors will be doing all they can in the short window to get the players ready for the rigours of matches againCredit: Getty Images – Getty
And with precious little time to get players back up to speed, sports scientists, physios and medical teams have their work cut out trying to prevent further layoffs with hamstrings particularly at risk.
Players will have been keeping ‘fit’ from home during the lockdown with plenty of running and cardiovascular work but the real challenge is now about getting match ready.
Many would not have done any full-speed sprints or sudden stops, the kinds of movements done in matches, between the March lockdown and returning last week which could cause serious problems when matches return thick and fast.
Liam Hayes, who set up training and performance platform TrainMyAthlete, told SunSport: “It is inevitable that athletes will likely get injured because of what they are planning to do with a very short runway into a whole host of fixtures with less recovery time.
“That is challenging when there is a Champions League game in midweek and then Premier League at the weekend during the regular season – it is even more difficult when for the last six weeks they’ve been unable to replicate training sessions at home before that fixture congestion.
“There will just not be enough time to physically and mentally prepare for the rigours of a large amount of games in a short time.
“That is a challenge for sports scientists now – the anxiety will be about the spread of Covid-19 but also how they maintain players’ fitness levels and prevent them from getting injured.
“They would normally have a six-week pre-season period where training is gradually ramped up and the minutes of friendlies are spread evenly across the squad.
“Now they are confronted with a short runway with players coming in at a lower baseline than when they left. How do you handle training? How much do you push them?”
It is a worry shared by former Arsenal and England physio Gary Lewin, who told Sky Sports: “I read there were eight muscle injuries in the first set of games in the Bundesliga.
“You would expect to see more muscle injuries occur. Players call it feeling a bit rusty, but from our point of view it’s just the reaction times. How the body reacts to jumping and landing, and that will put pressure on joints but realistically the main worries are about muscle injuries.”
Hayes believes one of the main problems the social distancing will have both physically and psychologically on players will be the lack of physical touch with physios.
Any injuries, niggles or strains must be dealt with in a completely new way but more alarmingly for many will be the inability to go for massages.
Hayes added: “There will be absolutely no hands-on contact with physios – that means no massages. You won’t be able to get your hands on an injured knee or ankle.
“It can’t be understated how big of an impact no massages will have. It’s going to be very difficult. For many players, they would come to see me without any problems but simply as part of their pre-match routine to have a rub.
“With superstition, they did not feel ready to perform unless they had got everything right – one of those components would often be getting a massage off the physio.
“It could potentially delay recovery of injured players but also the psychology of someone for whom a massage is part of a pre-match routine is going to be impacted considerably.”
Hayes’ application TrainMyAthlete has proved critical for clubs during lockdown as coaches and backroom staff are able to track players’ diet, training, GPS activity, wellness, communicate and schedule remotely, with all the data kept in one place.
Costing £5,000 per year, it is a fifth of the price of some systems used by the very elite clubs and so far 25 clubs are signed up, including throughout the EFL, in non-league and across Europe with Champions League side and Bulgarian champions Ludogorets recently joining.
The easy-to-use app brings training, schedules, questionnaires, analysis and messages together in one placeCredit: TrainMyAthlete
Three athletes were tested for Covid-19 after their results on the screening sent an alert to their club doctorCredit: TrainMyAthlete
Hayes explained: “The concept started when we started to get fed up of designing excel spreadsheets when they were going away for the off-season.
“They would be left in the changing rooms or we’d send emails and texts but there was no way of collecting that data in a seamless way.
“Combining GPS performance, training volume and intensity and screening wellness with sleep, stress, mood and fatigue together gives a powerful indicator of how ready the athlete is to perform but most importantly the risk of injury.
“Since Covid-19, it’s been wonderful for our business because suddenly clubs have been desperately looking at solutions to monitor and set players plans during isolation.
“In isolation, you’d be surprised. Even some of the biggest clubs are using WhatsApp to deliver some of their content. Clearly that is not a way to pick up data and analyse it.”
Former Newcastle defender Mike Williamson, now manager at Gateshead, uses the app and said: ”Even working in the Premier League we did not have some of the data that we can access now.”
The wellness questionnaire even provided the basis for a coronavirus screening to be introduced in the app, asking athletes to take their temperature and answer questions relating to possible symptoms including coughing.
A series of troubling answers will send a red flag through to the club doctor who can then take appropriate action, whether that is to simply tell them to self-isolate or arrange a test.
Hayes added: “So far we’ve had three athletes that have breached the coronavirus threshold across two different teams.
“That has allowed club doctors to send a screening test to their houses which were sent away and all came back negative, thankfully. But it did allow the club to take action.
“We monitor how the players are interacting and 98 per cent have filled in their questionnaires which is key to knowing what’s happening with their players.
“The messaging function was previously used to send opposition analysis is now being used to say how to keep yourself and your family safe and also how to train in isolation.”
Liam Hayes set up TrainMyAthlete after growing frustrated with plans and data getting lost or scattered
TrainMyAthlete is used by 25 clubs, including throughout the EFL and across EuropeCredit: TrainMyAthlete
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
