Proprioception (or deep sensitivity) in football refers to the perception, conscious or not, of the management of different parts of the body in space.
Concretely, proprioception in football consists of better understanding your body in space (especially the lower part which interests footballers more) by having better developed reflexes. For example, when you run or walk on a stone, have the reflex to avoid the twist of the ankle which leads to the sprain.
How proprioception works
For proprioception to work, we have joint receptors (ligaments, muscles, skin, etc.) and nervous pathways (cortical, sub-cortical, etc.) which are involved in setting up the appropriate movement to avoid the problem. Except that it is working to develop it, it’s a bit like running, everyone knows how to run but between running 100m cool and running a marathon in less than 3 hours, there is a margin!
This method is well known to those used to sprains because it is a re-educational work carried out by the physiotherapist. Know that it is also important work in accident prevention. Betting in football is fun and especially for those who want to earn by betting too. Do you want to get the bet of the day on soccer? Then you must visit the betticket.net, one of the most prominent sites for the professional punters. Punters use this site to get regular tips to help their bets and the proven track record of betticket.net makes it the most loved site on the internet too. So you can try your luck with it too.
Football proprioception work exercises
Ideally, this work is done throughout the season; know that it is very easy to devote a little time to it every week at home. We are going to talk mainly about the proprioception of the lower limbs.
You have to find 1 unstable object which can be:
- a trampoline
- a tray with a semi-ball underneath as with the physiotherapist (called Freeman’s tray)
- one or two thick pillows put on top of each other (and everyone has that at home)
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Then, climb on it, stabilize yourself in the center on one leg (important, slightly bent, this notion of mini flexion is important), look straight ahead and stay 30 seconds while being as stable as possible . If you have to lose your balance, due to instability, don’t try to bounce with just one leg, get back on 2 legs. Do the same on the other leg because you always work in symmetry with a series of 4 repetitions of 30 sec. It’s easy, ok, now close your eyes while decreasing to 20 sec stability then if you can, increase the duration.
Once the 30 seconds which are maintained quite stable, you can make a small jump to make a rotation of 90.
You will quickly notice the progress, you will have trouble at the beginning if you close your eyes and you will progress very quickly.
Interest of proprioception for the athlete
Better proprioception allows you to better control your balance-maintaining reflexes and thus avoid certain injuries and traumas such as ankle sprains. In addition, the exercises can easily be performed at home in front of the TV. So what are you waiting for?
This proprioception work is interesting both in prevention and in post injury. Indeed, if you have been the victim of an ankle sprain, rupture of the cruciate ligament or other sprain of the knee, it is a very interesting means of rehabilitation. It is, anyway, worked at the physiotherapist.If you do proprioception in prevention, there is no contraindication except to stay static. If you do this following an injury, you must have the medical green light (usually physiotherapist) and see with him the working time, the frequency.
