So frustrated, somethings up with my quads. It didn't happen acutely, but gradually. I noticed it about 5/6 days ago. There's a tightness/pain in both of my thighs, in the middle quad muscle, smack bang up the middle of my leg. it hurts to press in on this spot, which is about 1 inch squared. It hurts most to sprint, but generally anything involving my quads aggravates it. The left one hurts a lot more then the right, though its's the same type of pain/location in both. The only thing in my training that I can remember that may of caused it is doing sharp sprints at team training after a poor warm-up. It doesn't seem enough to cause injury in my legs, it seems silly, but it's the only thing I can think of. I am a bit of an Owen Hargreaves, I find myself injured easily... Any thoughts? I'm thinking a tendon sprain or something.
Did you just start training again for spring soccer by any chance? Out of curiosity, what is your fitness program away from soccer? Lift weights? Run?
If he's "injured easily" then I'm curious if he needs to get into some kind of strengthening program or identify strength imbalances so he doesn't get injured so often.
Yep, good point. My right and left legs are imbalanced meaning I'm more susceptible to injuries. Maybe you should explain?
Same here, I'm imbalanced front to back and only a recent trip to a physical therapist revealed this. But my hamstrings are waay weaker than my quads and my hip flexors are waay weak as well. This caused a quad injury that went nagging for months. We treated the quad directly which fixed it for a time but the main problem was that the surrounding muscles were weak. To do any action you need complementary muscles to complete the motion or simply hold you stable. If you have muscular imbalances certain muscles compensate for the weaker ones and over time can cause them to give out.
I don't have any muscular inbalances that I know of. Although I hsvn't been to a physio in 2-3 years. I'm not very strong, but I've done bodyweight routines before, but stopped recently after having unsatisfactory gains after probably 2 years work of it. I never focused on nurtition, I just eat well, and a lot of it. Being a teenager with high testosterone etc. It's generally believed that we can gain muscle very easily (bodybuilding sites being my source). Also, I don't do any strength work anymore as I believe that strength/athleticism isn't important at my age. I couldn't be bothered explaining my wholr schedule leading up to my injury, but heres a general outline: Monday: Ball work - intense Tuesday: team training - intense Wednesday: ball work - moderate Thursday: team training - intense Friday: ball work - moderate Saturday: ball work - moderate Sunday: Rest My injury isn't DOMS, it feels different and has lasted too long for 'sore muscles'. I have had injury's in the past that wern't treated well, I pretty much played through them until it subsided. These injuries involved both my hip flexors, which doesn't bother me any more, my left knee, which still hurts a bit when bending on one leg (which I really should get looked at, though it never disturbs me on the field). Also, nearly 3 yearS ago I was diagnosed with severs disease (osgood schlotter but in the heels), which I rested for a few months, but eventually just played through it, and it doesn't bother me anymore, although i can still feel a bit of pain when I press into my heels, and I find my achilles tendon a tad tight sometimes. I
Sounds a bit like when my Quads completely locked up during last fall. I was having an outdoor session and the temperature was "evening cold". I had been drinking quite a bit of coffee and probably not enough water and I didn't stretch after warmup. Then, during a quite intense playing session both of my quads just locked up. I was able to play through rest of the session, but the next day and probably a few days after I had a reasonable amount of pain and had to rest. I'm not going to say that you're not "really injured", but since the pain wasn't acute; it's probably not a muscle strain. Your quads and/or tendons could be inflammated or something like that, and that should be worrying enough. Try to walk yourself a little trip and stretch geeently and see how that feels. Also could try to ice the areas and use anti-inflammatory gel.
Thanks everyone. Injury update: it's healing suprinsingly quickly, no more pain in the right, and none in the left. The only pain I experienc now is an odd tightness in the left one, it feels quite different to stretch when compared to the sensation in the right when I do a basic thigh stretch. I'm very tempted to play tomorrow, but I know I need to give it another week or so until that tightness disapears, because I can see myself reinjuring it if I jump back into it at this stage. Comments?
Go along to the game and see how you are. Try and warm-up, if you're having problems, don't play. Simple!