The new football season has only just started and yet the infirmaries are already filling up. The Red Devils saw Thibaut Courtois and Kevin De Bruyne drop out for a longer period of time. Both went to prepare for the season with their clubs with an exotic summer tour. Physiotherapist David Bombeke does not believe in coincidence: “Clubs know the link between summer tours and injuries, but the deals are too important.”
The new season started dramatically for Kevin De Bruyne on Friday.
The midfielder fell out against Burnley after just 20 minutes with, according to his coach Pep Guardiola, the same injury as in the Champions League final. Earlier in the week, Thibaut Courtois was also seriously injured.
In the Jupiler Pro League we already saw muscle injuries at Nurio Fortuna, Edgaras Utkus, David Henen, Amir Murillo, Alexandro Calut and Bjorn Meijer. Too many to speak of mere coincidence?
There must be a balance between load and load capacity, which is now completely lost.
David Bombeke
Physiotherapist David Bombeke thinks so too. He works for Club Brugge, among others, and sees that summer breaks: “Whether there is a connection between the shorter preparations and the injuries is a no-brainer.”
“A large part of injury prevention is the load. There must be a balance between load and load capacity, which is now completely lost. There are many more matches than, say, 10 years ago and rest breaks are much shorter,” says Bombeke.
Due to the summer international matches, there is also less time to prepare for the season.
“Even so, every coach tries to do the same as before in that shorter preparation. They put a 6-week program in 4 weeks. That is the main reason for the injury wave.”
Exotic promotional tours cause injuries
For several years now, major European clubs have also been doing lucrative summer tours in all corners of the world to prepare for it. Certainly a good thing on a commercial level, but the question is whether all that traveling is good for the players.
“Research has already established a link between hamstring injuries and clubs doing these tours. Throughout the season we see that these are more common among the clubs that choose the tours.”
“The clubs even know that, but the deals are too important for them.”
There is a proven link between clubs doing promotional tours and hamstring injuries.
David Bombeke
Kevin De Bruyne seems to be a victim of that greed. He fell out with a similar injury to last season in the final of the Champions League.
“The medical staff really tries to prevent a player from relapsing into an injury, especially in an important muscle group like the hamstrings. The biggest reason for injuries are previous injuries.”
Cruciate ligament injuries are not just bad luck
Another injury that we saw a lot at the start of the season was a torn cruciate ligament. In addition to Courtois, Real also saw Eder Militao drop out for a long time this weekend.
Torn cruciate ligaments are still often attributed to mere bad luck. However, Bombeke does not believe in this: “You can sometimes have bad luck, but it is often an easy excuse.”
“A cruciate ligament is a good example of an injury that can be avoided. The cruciate ligament injuries that occur without contact can, in principle, all be avoided. If it happens in a duel, it is different.”
A cruciate ligament is a good example of an injury to be avoided.
David Bombeke
“Factors that cause these injuries are tired muscles. That all has to do with more competitions and training sessions, so it is no coincidence that we are now seeing more cruciate ligament injuries,” says Bombeke.
Fortunately, there is also good news: “Normally it will decrease as the season progresses. A normal average is one cruciate ligament injury in a group of 25 players every 2 years.”
2023-08-15 09:17:13
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