Don’t Ignore the Niggle!

With the start of the sporting season upon us, it’s not surprising to see more people out and about, going for a jog around Sydney Park or beginning their community sporting endeavours with the local soccer or footy club.

Unlike professional sports stars however, much of the general population who like to play organised sport don’t have the luxury of having a preseason and an ability to reintroduce the body to the loads that they will be experiencing during the season. Due to this, many people may begin to experience niggling injuries in the hamstrings and calves, knees, ankles and groins when they begin their training. If ignored, these may turn into a more serious or chronic injury during the season and prevent you from playing the sport you love!

Can niggles prevent me playing my chosen sport?



To demonstrate this point further, a recent study published in 2020, which looked at whether injuries that do not result in time away from sport (i.e. niggles) increase the risk of someone suffering a time-loss injury where they are unable to complete their sport for a period of time.

The study looked at 218 semi-professional football players in NSW, all participating in at least 3 football-based sessions per week (for example 2 trainings and 1 game). They completed screening questionnaires at every training session and game day over a 35-week period, which was designed to pick up on time-loss and non-time loss injuries respectively.

So, what did they find?

Over the 35-week observation period, the researchers found that within the test subjects, time-loss injury risk was 3-6x higher when a non-time loss injury (niggle) was reported in the past 7 days. As well as this, 33% of participants reported some kind of injury, whether it was a time-loss or non-time loss injury, each week.

What does this mean?

The most important message from this study is to listen to your body! Think of a niggle as an early warning sign from the body telling you that you are potentially at risk of having a bigger injury.

Our advice – Nip it in the bud!

What should I do if I get a “niggle”?

Come and see us! Our friendly team at Alexandria Physiotherapy and Sports Injury are here to help! Our physiotherapists will listen to your story as well as perform a comprehensive physical assessment to diagnose your injury. Following this, we will work with you to design a tailored rehabilitation program to get you back to doing what you love better than ever!

Reference:

Matthew Whalan, Ric Lovell & John A Sampson (2020) Do Niggles Matter? – Increased injury risk following physical complaints in football (soccer), Science and Medicine in Football, 4:3, 216-224, DOI: 10.1080/24733938.2019.1705996