Why do Madrid players get injured so much?

Dr. Luis Serratosa, former doctor of Real Madrid, points out that “the month of December always records a peak in injuries to the hamstring muscles (back of the thigh). Some studies indicate that the cold generates more injuries to the biceps. In my opinion, the overload of matches that the current football calendar presents is also an important factor in the accumulation of injuries.

José Luis Martínez, technical director of Spanish athletics, believes that “Real Madrid has never been known for carrying out methodical training. It is a team in which the class of players is very respected and they generally do not train well. Except in special cases like that of Cristiano Ronaldo, who made a living from his profession, I have the impression that physical preparation has been neglected. “Now they have too many events and social events that distract the players. footballers”. Martínez also emphasizes that the preparation has changed. “You see too many videos of very static training, with modern machines, with a lot of elastic work, and these trends do not convince me, it does not look like specific training for a footballer, I do not see dynamism, I see a lot of static type work. From my point of view it is necessary to work the specific, the quadriceps muscle, which is the one for striking, but also the muscle groups that represent the opposition.

Valentín Rocandio, coach of Garaiar, European champion in the 100 meters, is recognized as one of the great experts in the ischio-femoral muscles. According to the San Sebastián coach, “in football we are seeing, on the one hand, an increase in the load of matches, which accumulate every three days. But also, over the last five years, it has been proven that the intensity of matches is greater: the speed has increased and the number of sprints per match has skyrocketed. This logically increases the risk of injury to the back of the thigh and if we are also dealing with a footballer who has weak glutes, then the problems will appear more frequently. We must not forget that the hamstrings are very complex, very fragile muscles, because they are biarticular muscles: they cross two joints, the hip and the knee.



From Qatar, Dr. Juan Manuel Alonso, sports doctor, explains to ABC that “there are four factors that influence the increase in muscle injuries in a football team: the accumulation of matches, the increase in intensity and speed of actions in the game, the lack of adequate recovery due to excessive intercontinental travel and insufficient prevention work.”

Dr. David Capapé, sports traumatologist and director of the Biclinic center, has a very personal theory on the subject. “I sometimes tell my athletes to be careful not to overtrain the thigh muscles. Because hypertrophy (increase in muscle volume) can also generate situations of overload, and more overload, therefore more risk of ruptures. Balance is very important without going beyond one extreme or the other, i.e. neither hamstring weakness nor excessive hypertrophy.

Ángel David Rodríguez, perhaps the greatest Spanish sprinter in history, also points to another cause that cannot be ruled out: chance. “The ‘luck factor’ always influences. Often there is no reason and the athlete gets injured. The physical load due to the accumulation of matches, aggravated by being in one of the most demanding teams in the world, also has its weight. It is important to rotate players in lineups, but here coaches always face the ego problem. For me, these biceps femoris injuries can only be avoided with two things: more work and more benches,” says Pájaro.

Rocandio also highlights the fact that speed is not trained in football with the seriousness with which it is trained in athletics. “In football training there is a lot of rondo and a lot of work in short spaces, speed does not train well. And, curiously, the best vaccine to avoid thigh injuries is precisely to train a lot and at high speed.

Arturo Ortiz, one of the most prestigious physical trainers in Spain, agrees with Rocandio. “To prevent hamstring injuries, it is essential to do speed-endurance work, performing series of 40-meter sprints with little recovery for example is important. There are also other very useful workouts, such as running 6 sets of 200 meters. All this work, which must be preceded by phases of muscle strengthening (manual or machine), is decisive in avoiding injuries to the biceps femoris.

The gradual loss of certain good habits, such as stretching, could be another cause of these injury epidemics. According to Dr. Capapé, “we no longer stretch as much as before, and for me stretching is essential: it prevents many muscle problems.”

José Luis Martínez draws attention to another risk in today’s football. “It’s not just that there are a lot of parties. For me, what worries me the most are these long trips. There are Real Madrid players who travel with their national team to Brazil, Uruguay… these trips are not good for the muscles. So many hours of inactivity clutter the back of the thigh and injuries occur. For the footballer, travel is deadly.

Dr. Ricardo Rodríguez de Oya, head of the Trauma Department at the Fremap Clinic, highlights for ABC the importance of recovery after injuries to the biceps muscles. “These injuries must be treated appropriately, with the necessary rest and good rehabilitation, because if this is not done the risk of relapse is 20 percent.” According to Rodríguez de Oya, “the biceps are injured a lot in football because it is a determining muscle in acceleration, sprinting, braking and changes of direction. It also stops the extension of the knee in the terminal phase of the swing. To avoid injuries here, the key is to have a good muscular balance between the anterior aspect of the thigh (quadriceps) and the posterior aspect, the hamstrings.

Another factor that Dr. Capapé draws attention to is the possibility that excessive protein supplementation increases the risk of muscle injuries. “Breaks can occur when there is a high protein intake, too much use of nutritional supplements containing protein. I’ve seen sprinters who ended up giving up creatine. “Excessive consumption of these products could also cause injuries in athletes.”

“Unfortunately, there is no test with sufficient predictive quality to determine when a footballer might be injured,” confesses to ABC Dr. López Calbet, professor of physiology in Las Palmas, “but, without a doubt, having suffered a previous injury is the main risk factor. In terms of prevention, I recommend increasing eccentric strength and, to do this, the use of the Nordic hamstring exercise (on the knees, slowly lowering the trunk down to the ground while holding the ankles) is a very effective tool.