The France team has just won the second of three matches it must line up in 9 days. A sustained pace which imposes an optimal recovery.
The road to Euro 2016 has only just begun. The Blues will have to chain seven games in a month, an average of one game every five days. The players, who have just qualified for the round of 16, must prepare for this breakneck pace if they are to have a chance to go to the end. To help them, they are surrounded by a medical team at work from the end of a match, and until a few minutes from the start of the next match.
Aches and bruises
In five, and sometimes even four days, it is difficult to meet all the needs. In addition to the real injuries – fingers crossed so that fractures, sprains, muscle and ligament tears remain in the locker room – which could exclude some players from the competition, the range of necessary care is varied: from the management of muscle soreness to the reduction of small muscle or tendon trauma, bruising and other strokes.
The efforts are particularly traumatic. They correspond to braking movements, which put a strain on the muscles. The medical staff, like the rest of the team, will have their work cut out for them!
Sebastien Lopez-Guia , president of Professional Football Physical Trainers : ” There is a consultation between the physical trainer, the physiotherapist and the doctor to develop the program for the days following the matches …“
The shape in the socks
And it starts at the end of the match. The methods are diverse, and medical staff have their preferences, explains to Why actor Sébastien Lopez-Guia, physical trainer of Gazélec d’Ajaccio, and president of the association of Professional Football Physical Trainers. But generally speaking, the basics are similar.
“We typically find physiotherapy treatments, massages and manipulations,” he explains. They make it possible in particular to find a good articular amplitude. To accelerate the elimination of toxins present especially in the lower limbs, and in particular in the calves, one can also use electrostimulation devices, which make it possible to increase venous flow. “
Apparatus and technical manipulations therefore, but also… compression stockings! Compression promotes recovery, and specific socks exist. They fulfill the same role of improving venous return. Footballers have got into the habit of wearing them just after matches, but also the next day.
Sebastien Lopez-Guia : ” We have electrostimulation tools that accelerate venous return and toxin treatment …“
Cold snap in the locker room
For recovery, a set of techniques whose effectiveness has long been very controversial has been used for decades: cryotherapy. Literally, cold care. From the small spray of cold applied directly, and in the middle of a game, after a hit to the whole body cryotherapy cabins, the range is wide.
These allow, as their name suggests, to expose the whole body to a temperature that can drop to -160 ° C, for a few minutes. The interest would be multiple: relieving the pains related to small traumas and blows, helping to absorb any hematomas, promoting the elimination of waste and the healing of muscle micro-lesions by promoting oxygenation …
The French football team would have instead opted for cold water baths at 10 ° C, according to Dr. Franck Le Gall, doctor of the Blues since 2012. The challenge for the players is to achieve to stay submerged up to the neck for a good 10 minutes. “The baths are less bearable than cryotherapy,” says Sébastien Lopez-Guia. To perfuse the skin, the muscles, and reach the venous system, the guys have to stay longer than in the cryotherapy cabins at -160 ° C. Courage to them!
Sebastien Lopez-Guia, president of PFP: ” The classic schedule is a breakfast, a lunch, a nap, a snack and a meal in the evening …“
Sleep is their ally
The cold on the muscles has another utility: it promotes sleep. “The night after a game, players often don’t sleep very well, and naps aren’t enough to replace sleep cycles. The baths are also used for that ”underlines the physical trainer.
“The cold causes a thermal and nervous shock when you go down to low temperature,” he continues. The resulting reaction is a significant relaxation of the nervous system and arousal functions, which allows for a better night’s sleep. “
Because sleep remains one of the main allies of recovery. In addition to cold baths, physiotherapists and osteopaths exercise relaxation which provides additional quality of sleep.
Food, the basic tool of the athlete
Top-level athletes know it well: sports performance also involves food. The transition was evident at the time of the professionalization of rugby in the 1990s: the players underwent a draconian diet, to go from the state of paunchy masses to that of mountains of lean muscles.
In addition to this balanced and adapted nutrition – rich in starchy foods after matches – the footballers of the France team use a range of supplementation products to keep in shape and accelerate recovery. In the half hour or the hour which follows the end of a match, they bind themselves to a very specific diet with contributions of carbohydrates, amino acids and proteins which allow a better regeneration.
“In the football locker room, there are often shakers with liquid supplements, which have the advantage of being quickly assimilated after matches,” explains Sébastien Lopez-Guia, president of the association of professional football physical trainers. We also use gels, before and after exercise, which contain taurine, caffeine, carbohydrates and amino acids in precise doses. They are also very popular with players, because they generally have very pleasant scents. “If in addition, the specific diet of top athletes becomes a pleasure …
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