TMW Radio
Guest of TMW Radioduring Maracanawas the athletic trainer Paul Rongoni. Who spoke about the many injuries already at the beginning of this season:
Corriere dello Sport today opens on the injuries that are increasing in football. What can you tell us about it?
“This is a critical period for the body, all the changes in season are always a shock and the current weather certainly doesn’t help. When the temperature drops drastically and it rains, the structure of the pitch changes and muscle injuries or fatigue increase. But it’s always like this. When Europe starts there is a peak in injuries. And I think we’re only at the beginning. The more a player plays, the more exposed he is to injuries, studies say so. We’ve known for years that we play too much and it’s an issue that needs to be addressed if we continue to increase the number of matches”.
How do you recover with so many commitments in such a short time? How do you manage everything?
“Every staff and coach has their own philosophy. From experience, a minimum of work must be done during the cups. The match replaces the important training session on Tuesday or Wednesday, when once there was instead a double session. Surely if you have a long roster and you manage to rotate the players, this is the best form of prevention. Then the staff must keep the players and their parameters under control in various aspects. However, the stress remains high and very often it is much more difficult to face a season with the EL rather than with the Champions League, because the EL is played on Thursday. The best method of prevention, however, is to have a large roster and adopt rotation”.
Can preparations in the city versus the mountains affect injuries?
“There are problems related to logistics, you are at home and you have your own super-equipped training center and so you prefer to stay in the city. Today, for retreats you need adequate infrastructure and it is not easy to find structures of this kind. It is more difficult than anything else to play so many friendlies around, because even the travel affects the fatigue. All this stress leads to overload problems which are normal. The injury is never linked to a factor. Always playing on the edge means always being close to injury”.
What memories do you have of your experience at Napoli?
“It was a great experience, we know how it went last year but I’m happy that they started again strong, I wish them the best. They have good base athletes, who are willing to push and with good qualities. Di Lorenzo really has great legs”.