Why Pro Footballer Wear Football Sock Sleeves ? They Really Prevent Injury?

February 14, 2024

You might have noticed recently that more and more football players are using a combination of grip socks and football sock sleeves instead of the traditional long football socks. But do you know why they wear them this way? And how can you wear football sock sleeves to help improve your performance on the field and reduce the risk of injury?

Football sock sleeves

1. Why Wearing Football Sock Sleeves
2. Who is wearing football sock sleeves
3. How to wear football sock sleeves correctly?
4. Words

1. Why Wearing Football Sock Sleeves

Football sock sleeves are not just another piece of your football kits; they are essential for preventing injury and enhancing performance on the field. Understanding their significance and how to wear them correctly can make a substantial difference in your game.

Injury Prevention

Traditional football socks, in order to withstand the rigors of professional matches, are manufactured with a significant amount of chemical fibers and nylon. These materials provide sufficient pressure and stability to prevent shin guards from slipping or flying out of the socks during the game. However, this also brings many drawbacks. Such socks put considerable pressure on the players' calves, hindering blood circulation in the lower legs and causing a buildup of lactic acid in the calf muscles. This not only makes players uncomfortable during matches but also increases the risk of calf muscle tears. This is also why players often cut holes in their socks, as we've previously revealed.

However, choosing to wear grip socks with football sock sleeves provides the enough pressure on the calves, ensuring muscle explosiveness and shin guard stability. It also helps to avoid the risk of injury caused by overly tight compression.

pro footballer wear football sock sleeves to prevent calf injuries

Enhancing Performance

In our calf muscles, two important parts are closely related to running: the gastrocnemius and soleus. They determine the fastest sprint speed and the shooting power when you're on the field (of course, it's not solely determined by these two muscle parts). However, ensuring that these muscles endure appropriate pressure during the game by wearing football socks sleeves is crucial. It not only ensures you can quickly activate these muscles to get into gear at the beginning of the match but also provides support and stability for them during the later stages when these muscles fatigue. This assistance helps you maintain passing accuracy even when you're exhausted.

wearing football sock sleeves can benefit calf muscles in game

Protecting your skin

I bet you've experienced it before. After a brilliant tackle, you find your leg scraped and bleeding, even though these minor wounds didn't affect your performance at the time, they sure torture you afterwards. During the week-long recovery of these wounds, even a slight touch of water during showers can cause intense pain. Moreover, there's the risk of leaving scars on your legs. Worse yet, if not careful, these wounds can become infected by bacteria, leading to more significant troubles. Therefore, football sock sleeves offer an extra layer of protection for footballers compared to just wearing grip socks, shielding them from getting their skin scraped by the turf when they fall or make sliding tackles.

wsl women footballer wearing football sock sleeves for skin protection

2. Who is wearing football sock sleeves

Just from this week's matches, it's easy to see that the combination of Grip socks & football sock sleeves has become a popular choice on the professional stage.

Manunited footballer wearing grip socks and football sock sleeves

mancity athlete in grip socks& football sock sleeves

sophie haug in football grip socks and sock sleeves in fa cup

3. How to wear football sock sleeves correctly?

Step1 Buy or Cut

You can either buy a pair of new football sock sleeves or simply cut off the old football socks about 2-5cm above the ankle.

While cutting a new sock sleeve directly from old one is more convenient and cheaper, it's essential to note that some socks' knit fibers may become excessively loose after cutting, leading to unravelling and the sock sleeve becoming too loose. Therefore, we recommend that self-cut sock sleeves should be used for no more than 1-2 months at most.

first steps to cut football sock sleeves

Step 2 Try and Adjust

Try putting on the sock sleeves and feel their snugness; the ideal snugness should help secure your shin guards properly while not making your calves feel too tight.

Professional players cut holes in traditional football socks

Step3 Use Tape

The final step is to use tape. Wrap a few rounds of tape at the junction of the sock sleeves and grip socks to better secure the position of the shin guards.

Tapes to adhere football sock sleeves and grip socks

4. Words

Hope our share today can help you with all your confusions about football sock sleeves. If you have any more questions, please feel free to join our community or leave your comment below, we are so happy to hear from you.

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