What Soccer Really Asks of the Body: Injury Risks, Fitness and Safety Tips

On a typical Saturday morning in metro Atlanta, soccer fields fill up fast. Parents set up chairs. Kids chase loose balls. Adult players gather later in the day for pickup games. Across the region, soccer is part of daily life.

So, when Atlanta hosts FIFA World Cup matches, including a semifinal, it is not introducing soccer to the city. It is putting a spotlight on a sport people here already love.

R. Amadeus Mason, MD, an orthopaedic sports medicine physician at Emory Healthcare, has seen the sport’s growth up close. He serves as chief medical officer for Atlanta United FC. He has also worked with elite athletes across multiple sports. His experience shows just how demanding soccer can be on the body.

What Dr. Mason and his Emory colleagues also know, from years of treating players at every level, is that the sport’s growth comes with a physical price. The game is demanding, and the gap between what it looks like from the stands and what it asks of the body is wider than many realize.

“Soccer is like working out and playing chess at the same time,” Dr. Mason says. “It demands everything at once.”

Unlike many sports, soccer involves near-constant movement. Players do not stop and reset after each play. They stay in motion for long stretches.

A professional player may run six to eight miles in a single match. But distance alone does not tell the full story.

That movement includes:

• Short, explosive sprints
• Quick stops and starts
• Sudden changes in direction
• Jumping and landing
• Kicking and passing

Players also move without the ball, working to create space or defend opponents.

At the same time, they are making decisions. A player must read the field, anticipate the next move, and react in seconds.

This mix of physical effort and mental focus is what makes soccer exciting to watch — and challenging to play.

Despite concerns about high-profile injuries like ACL tears, the most common issue Dr. Mason treats is something else.

“Hamstring, hamstring, hamstring,” he says.

Hamstring injuries happen often because of how players move. Soccer requires constant acceleration, deceleration and change of direction. These movements place a heavy load on the muscles in the back of the thigh.

Unlike sports with set plays, soccer is unpredictable. Players react in real time, often adjusting mid-run.

“It’s more responsive,” Dr. Mason says. “You don’t know exactly how the play will develop.”

Ankle injuries are also common, especially from collisions or missteps. Most ankle sprains improve within a few weeks. But some may take longer, especially if pain is felt in the front of the ankle.

“If you have pain in the front, get evaluated,” Dr. Mason says. “Early care can help you recover more quickly.”

At the professional level, sports medicine is highly advanced.

Before a match, athletic trainers and physicians prepare players hours in advance. They review data collected throughout the week, including how far each player has run and how much stress their body has handled.

Wearable technology tracks performance and recovery. This helps care teams balance fitness and rest.

“You want players to be fit, but also fresh,” Dr. Mason says.

Teams also rely on a full support staff that may include:

• Athletic trainers
• Physical therapists
• Sports nutritionists
• Exercise scientists

This level of care is not available for most recreational players. But the lessons can still apply.

For adults and youth players, preparation starts with fitness.

“Get your fitness up first,” Dr. Mason says. “That’s the foundation.”

Players should work toward being able to run for 30 to 45 minutes at a moderate pace. Without that baseline, the risk of injury increases.

Warmups also matter, but not in the way many people think.

“It has been proven that stretching alone does not prevent injury,” Dr. Mason says.

Instead, a good warmup should:

• Increase heart rate
• Activate key muscle groups
• Prepare the body for movement

This can improve performance and help reduce injury risk over time.

Morgan Heinzelmann-Weisbaum, a sports neurologist at Emory, studies brain health in athletes.

When watching a game, she looks for subtle moments others may miss — especially when players jump for the ball.

“A lot of times people see the header,” she says, “but they miss the contact between players.”

Many concussions in soccer happen not from heading the ball itself, but from collisions between players. This includes head-to-head or head-to-body contact. 

When a concussion occurs, the brain moves quickly inside the skull. This motion can disrupt normal brain function and cause symptoms such as headache, dizziness or confusion.

Research on repeated heading without symptoms is still ongoing. Some studies suggest possible long-term effects, but more data is needed.

One consistent finding is that female athletes experience concussions at higher rates than male athletes and often report more severe symptoms. Researchers point to several possible factors, including differences in neck strength and stability, brain structure, and hormonal factors – as well as the possibility that female athletes may be more likely to report symptoms more accurately.

Today, concussion care focuses on active recovery.

After a brief rest period of 24 to 48 hours, athletes begin a gradual return to activity. This process includes:

1. Light aerobic exercise
2. Sport-specific movement
3. Non-contact training
4. Full practice

Each step depends on symptoms. If symptoms return, activity is reduced.

“When in doubt, sit them out,” Dr. Heinzelmann-Weisbaum says.

Neeru Jayanthi, co-director of Emory Youth Sports Medicine, studies how sports participation affects young athletes.

One key concern is early specialization — focusing on one sport year-round at a young age. In his broader research across youth sports, he found that highly specialized athletes may be at greater risk for overuse injuries, such as:

• Stress fractures
• Tendon injuries
• Growth plate problems

This happens because the same movements are repeated without enough rest or variety. Notably, a soccer-specific study Dr. Jayanthi co-authored did not find the same strong link in young elite soccer players, though he says the overall pattern across youth sports still concern him.

“A kid can have advanced skills,” Dr. Jayanthi says. “But the body is still developing.”

He encourages parents to support a range of activities, especially before age 12. Playing multiple sports — or simply playing for fun — helps the body develop more evenly.

Free play, where children set their own pace and rules, is especially beneficial.

Dr. Jayanthi offers a helpful rule: children should not spend more hours per week in organized sports than their age.

For example:

• A 9-year-old should not exceed nine hours per week

This helps balance training, recovery and overall health.

His message to families is not to avoid soccer, but to keep it fun and sustainable.

“Play soccer with your friends,” he says. “You’ll love it, at all levels.”

Adapted from Everybody’s Sport: What soccer really asks of the body.