The Most Popular Sports Worldwide: Soccer

Soccer remains the most popular sports worldwide. While known as soccer in the United States, it is known worldwide as association football, or just football. It is currently played by approximately 250 million individuals in over two hundred countries. The sport involves two teams with eleven members on each team. The teams must score goals with a spherical ball by passing the ball from player to player. However, the players are not allowed to touch the ball with their hands. Rather, they must use their other body parts, such as elbows, knees, feet and even their heads to pass the ball from player to player (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2014). Since the sport involves running, jumping and other physical activity, it has a wide variety of injuries associated with it. This paper will focus on the more common soccer injuries, how they occur and how they are treated.

Common Soccer Injuries

As with all sports, soccer produces a number of common injuries. These injuries are related to the running, jumping, and hitting associated with the sport. The most common injury associated with the sport includes lower extremity sprains and strains. It is important to distinguish what a sprain is and what a strain is. A sprain is an injury to a joint. It normally involves the ligaments of the joint being stretched beyond what their normal capacity is. A ligament is type of fibrous tissue that connects bones with other bones. A strain is an injury to a muscle. It is more commonly referred to as a “pulled muscle.” Depending upon the severity of the muscle strain, the muscle fibers and tissues may actually be torn. Obviously, all muscle strains and joint sprains have a varying level of severity. The various levels of severity associa...

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...However, dislocations still require a period of rest to ensure that the ligaments and tends can heal properly. Fractures are usually “set” with a cast. Obviously, this requires a significant period of time until the person can play the sport again. An ACL tear normally requires surgery. The person will also need to take a serious break from the sport. A person should not play soccer again, or engage in any physical activity, after a serious injury until a physician has cleared the person to do so (Stop Sports Injuries, n.d.).

Conclusion

Soccer is the most popular sport in the world. As a contact sport, it often leads to injuries in its players. These injuries include sprains, strains, fractures and minor injuries. A common injury is a tear in the ACL in the knee. While some injuries require a period of rest only, other injuries require surgery.