Why Warming Up Properly Prevents Sport Injuries

TL;DR

A proper warm up works because it moves your joints through their range and activates the muscles you are about to use. Jogging or stretching alone only covers one of these. Teams using a warm up like the FIFA 11+ see 30 to 50 percent fewer injuries. Add one strength exercise per muscle group before you play.

The Detail
A proper warm-up before sport gets your muscles ready to contract, stretch and take a load, not just your heart rate up. Many players still treat a warm-up as something to rush through before the real training starts. This matters more than most people realise. A rushed or incomplete warm-up is one of the most common contributing factors behind sports injuries physios see every week, especially once the weather turns cold.

In this post, you will learn what a proper warm-up actually needs to include, why joint movement alone is not enough, and how a few simple changes can lower your injury risk this season.

What is a proper warm-up?
A proper warm-up is a short session before sport that prepares your muscles and joints for the demands ahead. It combines two things: moving your joints through their full range, and activating the muscles you are about to use at a low level.
Jogging a lap or swinging your arms only covers the first part. Without muscle activation, your muscles are still cold when the whistle blows.

Why does warming up properly matter?
Sport injuries are rarely caused by one single moment. More often, a muscle is asked to work hard before it has been properly prepared, and that is when strains happen.

Research on football's FIFA 11+ programme, developed by FIFA's Medical Assessment and Research Centre (F-MARC), found that teams doing a structured warm-up at least twice a week had 30 to 50 percent fewer injuries than teams that did not. That is a large drop for a change that only takes 15 to 20 minutes. It shows how much of an impact the warm-up itself can have, separate from anything else in training.

How does a proper warm-up actually work?
Joint movement: Moving a joint through its range, like swinging your leg or rolling your shoulders, increases blood flow and loosens the area around it. This is a useful first step, but it does not make the muscle itself any stronger or more ready to contract.

Muscle activation: Muscle activation means asking a muscle to work at a low level before it needs to work hard. A few bodyweight squats before a game wake up the muscles you are about to rely on. Doing joint movement and muscle activation together is what makes a warm-up effective, not either one on its own.

Dynamic warm-ups vs static stretching
A dynamic warm-up uses movement, like walking lunges or leg swings, to prepare the body for activity. Static stretching means holding a stretch still for a period of time.
Static stretching still has a place, usually after activity, but doing it cold, before sport, does not activate muscles the way a dynamic warm-up does. If your current warm-up is mostly static stretching, that is worth changing.

How to put this into practice
The simplest approach is to pick one exercise per major muscle group and do a low-level, strength-based movement before you play. Calf raises, squats, and walking lunges work well for the lower body. For the shoulders, purposeful movements that involve squeezing the shoulder blades together work better than loose arm swings.
If you already have a nagging niggle, or a warm-up alone is not solving the problem, our sport physio therapy team can help you build a plan around your specific sport.

What to do next

• Add 2 to 3 low-level strength movements to your warm-up, not just stretching.
• Target the muscles your sport relies on most, not a generic routine.
• Warm up for at least 10 minutes in cold weather, not 2.

Further reading: See our breakdown of the FIFA 11+ warm-up programme, or our guides to lower body warm-ups and shoulder warm-ups. https://www.betterbodiesphysio.com/blog/the-fifa-11-warm-up-programme-explained​

Common Questions About Warming Up Before Sport
Do I need to stretch before sport?
Static stretching before sport is not harmful, but it should not replace a proper warm-up. Save longer static stretches for after activity, when your muscles are already warm.

How long should a warm-up take?
Aim for 10 to 20 minutes, depending on the sport and the weather. Cold weather generally needs a longer warm-up than a warm summer evening.

Can a good warm-up completely prevent injuries?
No warm-up can guarantee you will never get injured. What a proper warm-up does is lower the risk by making sure your muscles are ready for the load you are about to put on them.

What is the most common injury from a poor warm-up?
Muscle strains are the most common injury physios see linked to a poor warm-up, often in the hamstrings, calves or groin. This happens when a muscle is asked to perform at a high level before it has been properly activated.

Is a warm-up different for team sports and individual sports?
The exercises are similar, but team sports often rely more on quick changes of direction, so warm-ups should include some of that movement. Recreational players are also less likely to follow a structured warm-up than higher-level teams, which is one reason recreational injury rates can be higher.

​If pain or a nagging injury is holding you back from training properly, book an appointment with our sports physiotherapy team, and we will build a plan around your sport, your body and your goals.