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Due to the abundance of muscle injuries received by football players in the Italian "Serie A" championship this season, it may be the result of overly intense training, say medics.
A few days ago, Milano Inter's coach Rafael Benitez lashed out at critics who said that the 15 muscle-related player injuries were not a result of his new training regime. According to the Spaniard, 40% of the injuries occurred while representing national teams, and 85% of them were recurrences of previous issues.
However, medics support Benitez's critics: "Without a doubt, the number of matches played is an important factor, but we cannot dismiss the frequency and intensity of the training sessions."
Milano University professor Arsenio Veicsteinas, interviewed by Reuters, affirmed: "It's very easy to say - don't train. But implementing that is difficult. Football players often do not fully recover from injuries, leading to even greater problems."
However, the frequency and intensity of training have a significant impact, says Sergio Califano from the Sports Institute in Florence: "It is very likely that increasing the intensity of training will result in more injuries. This is a common phenomenon."
