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Name
Editor
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Profession
Question
Sometimes injuries are treated on the spot but other times the players are carried off the field. What kind of injuries would usually force a player out of the game?
Answer
Usually there are no injuries treated on the field except if the player is in a coma and needs reviving inside the field. This happens often due to impacts.
Otherwise we take the patient outside so if there is a bone breakage or something he needs to be carried profesiionally.
The patient may be taken to the hospital to treat ligamentous injuries or serious bone breakage.
But on the field, we only do the ABC system: the Airways, the Breathing and the Circulations. After those are checked the patient is taken off the field and treated.
Name
Editor
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Profession
Question
What are the specialties involved in the medical teams that are present at matches to treat injured players?
Answer
The medical team is composed of an orthopedist and massagers.
Name
Editor
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Profession
Question
What are the precautions that a mother needs to take to protect her children before sending them out to play football?
Answer
The main precautions taken are nutritional. Before the match by 3-4 hours the child must eat well, and 60% of his food must be carbhydrate, 20% fats and 20% proteins.
The 60% carbohydrates should be monosaccharides for faster digestion.
The second point is that the player loses a lot of sweat during the game, ranging from 1 litre to 2 litres an hour in vigorous exercise. He must be fully hydrated before the game by 2 hours to prevent debhydration.
During the game, every 15 minutes the child should drink water or juices, and he should not wait until he is thirsty because that means he is already low on water and high on sodium and potassium in the blood.
Carboydrate loading is important too. The carbohydarates are stored inside the muscles as glycogen and that is the source of energy during play. So he should be loaded with carbohydrates by juices 4 hours before the game by drinking 1-2 glasses of juice. He is given another 1/2 glass 1 hour before the game to supplement the carboydrate loading. This way his endurance is increased.
After the match, the player would have lost a lot of water and energy. These must be resubstituted before the next game. This is managed through weighing the player before the game and after it to calculate the amount of water lost. He should then drink that amount of water.
Name
Editor
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Profession
Question
Can injuries on the field be so bad that it would prevent a player from returning to play football for good?
Answer
Till now, yes, there is the "unhappy triad". This is a break in the right knee, the medial collateral ligament, and the medial meniscus.
[Editor's note: The "Unhappy Triad" is an injury to the knee. The unhappy triad injury commonly occurs in contact sports such as football when the knee is hit from the outside. This causes an injury to three knee structures: the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), medial collateral ligament (MCL), and the medial meniscus. Source: http://orthopedics.about.com/cs/sportsmedicine/g/unhappytriad.htm]
With this condition, it's very hard for the player to ever return to playing football since it is 3 problems at the same time.
There are also the problems with the spine. If a player falls on his neck, it may lead to problems with the spine that could prevent him from playing again.
Otherwise there are new techniques that have allowed many injuries that couldn't be treated before to be treated successfully.
Name
Editor
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Profession
Question
Have you noticed an increase in the amount of injuries and aggressive play in recent years?
Answer
Yes there is an increase. This is because football now involves speed and body strength more than abilities like before. Add to this that the new shoes used to increase stability and kicking power have also led to an increase in injury.
New technologies in stadium-making with new types of grass has allowed increased stability which may also lead to injury due to sprains.
The new technologies in medicine have also allowed us to diagnose injuries that we didn't see before.
But along with the increase in injury, there is also an increase in treatment options.
Name
Adullah bin Saud
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Profession
Question
I play alot of football and get very tired quickly. what type of food should i have to give a burst of enery. i have heard mangos do the job.
Answer
A general rule would be that any player needs more energy than other people.
So if other people eat 50% carbhydrates, 25% proteins and 25% fats, an athlete should have from 60-75% carbohydrates, and this should be monoscaccharides, such as rice and pasta and potatoes. That is besides bread and fruits. Mango is good, and bananas are very useful as well.
He should eat this amount of carbohydrates at all times, not just before matches.
The player should also calculate the amount of calorie intake and balance it with the amount of calories lost.
To calculate the amount of calories needed, the weight in pounds is multiplied by 23 and that is roughly the amount of calories needed for vigorious exercise. For mild exercise it should be multiplied by 19. This is divided over the meals of the day.
This equation is important to increase duration.
If a player is trying to decrease his weight, he must make sure he doesn't lose the muscle mass but loses fat mass. To do that he must focus on anaerobic training. He should lose around 1 pound a week. If he loses more than that then he is losing muscle mass which is not good for the player. He will notice if he is losing muscle mass if he feels overheated, has headaches, experiences dizziness or feels tired.
The player MUST focus on losing fat mass not muscle mass.
Name
Editor
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Profession
Question
If a doctor decides that an injured player is not fit to continue the game while the player does not want to leave the field, who has the final decision?
Answer
Definitely the doctor.
Sometimes there is another important match coming. If the player continues, the injury might worsen. For example, if he has mild degree strain in a muscle, if he continues playing it may become 2nd or even 3rd degree strain which would put him out even longer.
There are other considerations as well. If this is for example a final match and he is an important player, the doctor might decide to let him finish the game since he will have a good rest afterwards.
But again, this is the doctor's decision.
Name
Editor
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Profession
Question
Are the kinds of injuries sustained by women different from men? What are the differences between them?
Answer
The injuries sustained by women may be lower since the clashes are lower, but the type of injuries are usually the same, only the rate might be less.
The difference can be seen in age though. Athletes less than 16 years old suffer injuries different from older players.
In younger players, there are certain "areas of growth" that are more liable to injuries such as the point in front of the knee, at the elbow, near the toes in feet. These areas suffer often in both girls and boys.
Older players have no problems with these points since growth is already completed.
Name
Editor
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Profession
Question
In comparison to other ball games, is football considered to be the most dangerous?
Answer
No I don't think it is the most dangerous.
The most dangerous sports in general are the high energy consumption games such as swimming, cycling and basketball. Football comes after these games.
But for injuries, the general rule is the more dangerous games are the games with a lot of clashes. In this category football might be higher since it invloves more clashes.
Although, from another point of view, games like cycling might be considered more dangerous since a fall may lead to lost fingers!
Name
Editor
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Profession
Question
In a worst case scenario, just how bad can sports injuries get?
Answer
It is not enough to be scared of, but a player should always take care and understand injuries so he can evade them.
As a general rule, he should see where the inertia is coming from and go with it instead of opposing it.
Players in the start area always thought how to treat these situations to decrease injuries.
Knowledge is very important here because if the player knwos how to evade it, the injuries decrease drastically. And at the end it's not scary because there is treatment for most of the injuries now.
Name
Editor
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Profession
Question
For most normal injuries, how long do they usually take to heal? Is there a chance they do not heal completely?
Answer
That is a good question.
The sooner the injury is treated, the sooner the player will be back to playing.
The most important rule is RICE. Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation.
As soon as there is an injury, I have to do those four things. The player must rest, and the injury must be wrapped in ice for up to 48 hours (the ice is removed every 10 minutes). If there is still edema (swelling) after that, I put ice again, it stays on until the edema heals. Compression is the next step to prevent a bigger edema since it is the most dangerous enemy here. The smaller the edema, the quicker the healing. The final step, elevation, is again to counter the edema. Elevation is raising the injured part above the level of the heart.
This is the first aid of sports injury.
If the injury is soft tissue, such as sprains, the time out of the game depends on how severe it is. The mild sprains take 3-9 days, medium take around 2 weeks with special treatment such as laser and ultrasonic or electrotherapy. Hydrotherapy is also a choice for prime players that are needed to stay in top form. In case of severe injury the player needs an operation and may be out for several weeks.
In case of bony tissues, that will need more work depending on if it's a fissure or fracture or compound fracture. It also depends on age and health. It may take from a month up to 9 months in some cases.
Name
Editor
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Profession
Question
Do you think that the issue of sports injuries has not received enough media coverage?
Answer
Yes definitely and that is a serious problem. For many clubs it is not even an important issue which is very wrong.
There should be better coverage of this so players know how to act in case of injuries. Even nutritional information should be available for parents so they can give their children the right combination of food that is needed. There are also false beliefs like the saying that "protein is the most important factor." That is very wrong. It should only be 25% maximum like we said before.
There should be more information on the internet as well as on TV to reach a broader audiance.
Name
Editor
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Profession
Question
Are there new techniques or technologies for treatment of sports injuries? Can you give an example?
Answer
Like we said before, the main techniques are elevating the injuries as much as possible and treating the player as fast as possible. To many clubs the player is a very high asset and they can't afford to lose them for as long as before.
There are also new drinks available to elevate hydration and ion depletions.
A new technique is also injection into soft bones. This is important to treat oesteopoerosis, although it is not very efficient, it shows some promise.
Name
Saad
- Greece
Profession
Question
I want to ask about using amino acids, is it dangerous?
Answer
The risky factors are using hormones and cortisones. These should not be used at all and it is illegal to use during games.
Some flu medications used are also risky.
Amino acids are not a problem as long as the right dose is used. For example, creatinine is needed for short bursts of energy, but for long mild exercise creatinine is not needed, glycogen is used.
The right dose is calculated according to the amount of exercise and sports played by the player and the type of amino acids taken. They should preferably be taken under the supervision of a doctor so he can give him the right dose for him.
Name
Ahmad
- Sudan
Profession
Question
Do you think that there is a big difference between developed and developing countries in the field of sports medicine? And what do you suggest for the developing countries to do?
Answer
There is a big difference but the problem is we don't even know how it is for developed countries. They have academies there that promote the right way of eating and the right way of treating injuries which bring up a better player. In developing countries the players' nutritional education comes from the people talking around them which gives a false view of how it should be.
Name
David
- Argentina
Profession
Question
In your opinion, what is the most suitable age for retirement for football players?
Answer
This is not about age. It is about his efficency in the field. This is a false understanding we have here that for example at the age of 30 the player should retire. That is wrong. As long as he is a good player and can still run in the field and score, he can keep playing even if he is 40 years old!
The same is with weight, it used to be a criteria before but not anymore. As long as the player is efficent in the game then he can keep on playing.
Name
Editor
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Profession
Question
What advice would you give to young players so they can enjoy sports fully without suffering the side effects of sports injuries?
Answer
The summary of all I said. The most important aspect is nutrition: what he eats and what not to eat. The young players must be educated what to eat, not forced to eat something. Diaries are very important.
As for injuries, they should know how to evade them and how to rest if injuried.
Finally, the exercise should be gradual, not vigorous all of a sudden to evade stress injuries.
