Your knee has started aching, and sprinting, turning or striking the ball now come with a twinge. Football asks a lot of your knees, with quick changes of direction, jumps and tackles. For most recent knee pain, adjusting how you train and play can help it settle while you stay involved.

Why football can affect your knee

Football involves sprinting, stopping, cutting and twisting with your foot planted, along with jumping and landing. Pain around the kneecap is common, especially after more matches or a jump in training. The inside of the knee can also get sore with lots of passing with the inside of your foot.

In most cases, the knee is irritated rather than damaged, and settles with a few changes.

When to get it checked

You should get your knee checked by a physiotherapist or GP before playing again if it swells up quickly after a twist or tackle, gives way, locks or will not straighten fully.

Reading how your knee responds

A simple traffic-light check can guide your football:

• Green. No pain, or a mild ache that settles within an hour. Carry on.
• Amber. An ache that lingers into the evening but has settled by the next morning. Keep training at the same level rather than adding more.
• Red. Your knee is sorer, stiffer or more swollen the next morning. Ease back next session.

Adjusting training for now

Some changes that can help while your knee settles:

• Focus on passing and close control at a steady pace.
• Leave out sharp turning, cutting and sprint drills for a week or two.
• Reduce jumping and heading practice.
• Play small-sided games at a steady pace, rather than full matches.
• Train on even pitches, avoiding very hard or rutted ground.

Turning and landing

How you move can ease the load on your knee:

• Land from jumps with soft knees, keeping your knee in line over your foot, rather than letting it drop inwards.
• Turn with a few small steps, rather than twisting on a planted foot.
• Bend at your hips and knees when changing direction.

Boots and pitches

Long studs on a hard or artificial pitch can grip too much, so your foot stays planted while your knee turns. Choosing boots that suit the surface you play on can help.

Warming up

A structured warm-up helps your knees feel ready. Research on the FIFA 11+ warm-up, which includes running drills, strength and balance work, found it lowered injury rates in amateur players by around a third. Something to try:

• Jog gently for a few minutes, including side steps and backwards jogging.
• Leg swings forwards and backwards.
• Slow squats and lunges.
• Single-leg balance.

Building strength

Strengthening the muscles around your hips and knees helps your knee cope with football. Research on pain around the kneecap suggests combining hip and knee strengthening works better than knee exercises alone. Something to try two or three times a week:

• Sit to stand. Rise from a chair without using your hands, then lower slowly.
• Reverse lunges, going only as deep as feels comfortable.
• Bridges. Lie on your back with your knees bent, lift your hips, then lower slowly.
• Side-lying leg lifts. Lie on your side and slowly lift your top leg, then lower.

If you would like to follow along, VIDA has short videos of sit to stands, lunges and bridges you can use at your own pace.

Everyday knee care

Long spells of sitting with your knees bent can make a sore knee stiff. Straightening your legs every so often, or getting up for a short walk, helps. Taking stairs one step at a time can feel easier for now.

Building back to playing

When your knee has been in the green for a week or so, you can start building back. Something like this tends to work well:

• Straight-line jogging, then running at a steady pace.
• Gentle changes of direction, then sharper turns.
• Small-sided games, then contact and full training.
• Part of a match, then a full match.

Move to the next step when your knee stays in the green. Your VIDA pain check-in is a good way to keep track of how your knee responds.

What to take away

• Most recent knee pain in football means adjusting, not stopping.
• Get it checked if it swelled quickly, gives way or locks.
• Leave out sharp turns and sprints for a week or two.
• Land with soft knees and turn with small steps.
• Warm up well and build back in stages.

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