FEATURE / LEONARDO BELOTTI

Modern football injuries, thanks to the help of social media and the media, are a highly debated and widely disseminated topic which attracts the interests of many health professionals: from sports doctors to physiotherapists, from surgeons to movement and body scientists rehabilitation, psychologists, nutritionists, mental coaches, personal trainers, podiatrists and all health assistants who in one way or another can contribute to the best 360° well-being of our athletes.

Those who observe this world from the outside, those who come from other sports, might think that football players, having everything at their disposal with an unlimited budget and staff, can have the best results following an injury and follow a linear rehabilitation path that is easier to manage compared to a non-footballer, but is it always that simple?

From my ten-year experience in Italian football as a physiotherapist, the management of a high-level athlete is not at all trivial or obvious. We must, first of all , analyse the figure of the player within this context from a psychological point of view. The footballer is a role that is subjected to many pressures inside and outside the club on a daily basis, a role in which every day they are required to always be in the best physical condition so as not to risk losing their place on the pitch to one of their teammates or in order not to compromise their performance level, a role in which external people try to give advice that is not always requested, often negatively influencing our athletes’ thinking.