ACL injuries and football boots
Townsville football grounds are typically firmer than our southern counterparts but so often I see kids and adults wearing football boots better suited to the soft, wet grounds of Melbourne or Sydney.
Soccer players in particular can become fixated on the upper, wanting a boot that maximises ball touch but the studs are not necessarily suited to the grounds they play on.
Kids and Adults alike will commonly choose a boot on colour or because all their friends have the same boot.
And this potentially could be a problem!
Statistics show that Australia has one of the highest incidences of ACL reconstructions in the world. And more worryingly the rate of ACL reconstructions is increasing most rapidly in our kids aged between 5 and 14 years old.
Why is this happening?
The thought is that kids now specialise in one sport earlier than they used to, have longer seasons, more intense training, higher levels of competition and less time for free play. I will often have kids as young as 10 years old coming into the clinic who are training and playing over 10 times a week!
About 70% of ACL reconstructions are sports related and the most common sports involved are AFL, Rugby Union, Rubgy League, Soccer, Netball and Basketball.
Are you wearing the right boot for the field you play on?
Soccer players in particular can become fixated on the upper, wanting a boot that maximises ball touch but the studs are not necessarily suited to the grounds they play on.
Kids and Adults alike will commonly choose a boot on colour or because all their friends have the same boot.
And this potentially could be a problem!
Statistics show that Australia has one of the highest incidences of ACL reconstructions in the world. And more worryingly the rate of ACL reconstructions is increasing most rapidly in our kids aged between 5 and 14 years old.
Why is this happening?
The thought is that kids now specialise in one sport earlier than they used to, have longer seasons, more intense training, higher levels of competition and less time for free play. I will often have kids as young as 10 years old coming into the clinic who are training and playing over 10 times a week!
About 70% of ACL reconstructions are sports related and the most common sports involved are AFL, Rugby Union, Rubgy League, Soccer, Netball and Basketball.
Are you wearing the right boot for the field you play on?
Not all footy boots are the same!
I thought we would look at 3 models of Nike football boots and how the may look same, same but they are very different
The Nike Tiempo SG Pro is designed for soft grounds and has 'anti-clog' traction to prevent mud build up
The Nike Tiempo Elite FG has a stud pattern designed for "slightly wet, short grassed pitches"
The Nike Tiempo Elite AG has a different stud pattern again designed for multi-directional traction on outdoor artificial surfaces
These three football boots have the same upper but have a vastly different approach to traction. And we know the cause of non-contact ACL in jury is due to foot fixation where the studs get trapped on the playing surface and the knee keeps shifting or where the studs have poor traction and cause the foot to shift under the knee.
At Townsville Podiatry we offer a Football Screening Assessment
We will assess
Football boot modifications options include
These three football boots have the same upper but have a vastly different approach to traction. And we know the cause of non-contact ACL in jury is due to foot fixation where the studs get trapped on the playing surface and the knee keeps shifting or where the studs have poor traction and cause the foot to shift under the knee.
At Townsville Podiatry we offer a Football Screening Assessment
We will assess
- your injury history
- your playing position and training loads
- current football boots and recommendations regarding most suitable football boot
- strength and mobility of your lower limb
- running and changing direction strategies
Football boot modifications options include
- forefoot padding most commonly to offload the big toe joint (sesamoiditis)
- heel wedging
- lacing options
- stud modification
- tongue padding
- customised orthotics
