Ankle sprains, muscle strains, and knee injuries are three of the most common ways the Fall season gets cut short. The simplest way to lower the risk of all three is a 10- to 15-minute dynamic warmup before every practice and game, not just on game day. Below, we break down what causes each injury and the warmup moves that prepare your body for it.
Before you jump in, make sure to watch our short video where Kevin Cherry, PT, DPT, OCS breaks down these injuries!
“…the best time to prevent an injury is long before the season begins.”
– Dr. Kevin Cherry, PT, DPT, Cert MDT, OCS
What are the most common fall sports injuries that we see?
In fall sports like soccer, football, volleyball, cross-country, and cheer, three injuries come up again and again:
| Injury | What it is | What often leads to it |
| Ankle sprain | A stretched or torn ligament typically on the outside of the ankle | Rolling the ankle on a cut or landing; a previous sprain |
| Muscle strain | A pulled or torn muscle, often the hamstring, groin, quad, or calf | Sprinting or kicking before the muscle is ready; a previous strain; a fast jump in training |
| Knee injury | A sprained ligament, such as the ACL or MCL, or pain around the kneecap | Collisions, cutting, landing, or stopping with the knee caving inward |
What makes a good warm-up?
A good warmup gets your body ready for the specific movements your sport asks for. By engaging in relevant strains to your muscles, you prepare yourself for the loads that your body will face. For most fall athletes that means sprinting, cutting, jumping and landing. The best way to do that is a dynamic warmup.
A dynamic warmup uses active, controlled movements that take your tendons, joints and muscles through their full range of motion.
Versus, static stretching, entails holding a muscle in a lengthened position for a set time, like reaching for your toes and holding it for 30 seconds.
Both have a place, but they do different jobs. A dynamic warmup raises muscle temperature and rehearses the movements you are about to use in practice or a game. Static stretching is useful for building flexibility over time, but is not viewed as the best tool right before your activity.
Historically, systematic reviews of stretching-related research found that holding a stretch for 60 seconds or longer per muscle caused a temporary drop in strength and power. However, more recent research suggests these findings to be inconclusive.
What has been steadily evident, however, is the importance of consistency. In a 2022 review of 15 trials in young athletes, structured warmup programs lowered injury rates, and the benefit was clearest for teams that did the warmup at more than 70% of their sessions.
What this means is doing one dynamic warm-up, or even multiple movements before just one game, isn’t enough. Prioritizing targeted dynamic warmups before every strenuous activity will yield the best results.
How do you prevent ankle sprains in fall sports?
Most ankle sprains happen when the foot rolls outward during a cut, landing, or a step onto uneven turf or another player’s foot. The biggest risk factor is one you might not expect. Recent research that analyzed ankle sprains in soccer players shows a previous ankle sprain is the strongest predictor of another one. An ankle that was sprained and never fully rehabbed can have less balance and control than the other side, even after the pain is gone.
A warmup that moves the ankle through a full range of motion and rehearses quick side-to-side footwork prepares it for the first hard cut of practice.
Add these movements to your dynamic warmup to prevent ankle sprains:
1. Ankle rolls
Stand on one leg. Lift the other foot slightly or keep the tip of the big toe lightly on the ground, and slowly circle the ankle. Do 8 to 10 circles clockwise and 8 to 10 counterclockwise, then switch legs.
Ankle rolls take the ankle through its full range of motion before you cut or land, and standing on one leg adds balance work. That balance piece deserves extra attention if you have sprained an ankle before.
2. High knees
Stand tall with your feet hip-width apart. Step forward and drive one knee up toward your chest while rising onto the ball of your standing foot. Lower and repeat on the other side.
Rising onto the ball of the standing foot works the calf and the single-leg balance that keep the ankle steady when you push off and land.
3. Lateral shuffle
Sink into an athletic quarter-squat with your feet wider than your shoulders, chest up, and knees bent. Push off your trailing foot to step sideways with your lead foot, then bring the trailing foot in without letting your feet touch or cross. Stay low and shuffle quickly for 10 to 15 yards, then come back the other way without turning around.
Many ankle sprains happen during side-to-side movements. The shuffle rehearses that movement at warmup speed, with the feet staying apart and under control.
How do you prevent muscle strains in fall sports?
A muscle strain happens when the muscle fibers tear or stretch too far. Typically, this happens when a muscle is asked to work hard and fast before it is ready, like the first all-out sprint of practice without warming up. The hamstrings, groin, quads, and calves take most of the load in fall sports, so strains in these muscle groups are particularly common.
Two things raise the risk of muscle strains:
The first is an old strain. A key 2020 review of the research found that a previous hamstring strain nearly tripled the risk of having another one (2.7 times more likely).
The second is the timing of the season. A review of National Football League (NFL) players identified preseason games as the highest strain rate of any training setting.
Add these movements to your dynamic warmup to prevent muscle strains:
1. Walking leg swings
Walk forward while kicking one leg straight up toward your opposite hand. Keep your chest up and avoid rounding your low back.
Leg swings warm up the hamstrings through active movement, the muscle group most often strained in sprinting sports. Keeping yourself upright makes the motion come from the hip rather than from bending your back.
2. Runner’s lunge
Step one leg far back and bend your front knee to about 90 degrees, with the knee stacked over the ankle. Keep the back leg straight and the back heel lifted. Lower your hands to the floor on either side of your front foot, keeping your chest open and back flat. Hold for 1 to 2 breaths, then drive through your front heel to step forward and switch sides.
The back leg gets a stretch through the front of the hip, while the front leg works to control the bend. It prepares the hip flexors and groin for a full stride.
3. Walking quad stretch
Walk forward, bend one knee, and grab your ankle behind you, pulling your heel toward your glute. Keep the knee pointing straight down at the ground, hold for 1 to 2 seconds, then step forward and switch legs.
This warms up the front of the thigh, the muscle used for kicking. Keeping the bent knee under your hip keeps the stretch in the thigh instead of arching your low back.
4. Arm circles
Stand tall with your arms straight out to the sides at shoulder height. Make small, controlled forward circles and gradually make them bigger over 10 to 15 seconds. Reverse direction. Keep your shoulders relaxed and away from your ears.
Strains are not only a leg problem. Arm circles warm up the shoulder and the muscles around the shoulder blade before throwing, serving, hitting, or blocking. Follow them with your sport’s usual throwing or hitting progression.
5. Build-up sprints
Over 40 yards, start at about half speed and pick up the pace every 10 yards until you reach 90 to 95% of top speed over the last 10. Walk back and repeat 3 times.
Going straight from standing around to a full sprint is a big jump for the hamstrings. Build-ups bring you to full speed in steps, so your first all-out effort of the day is not your first fast effort.
How do you prevent knee injuries in fall sports?
Knee injuries in fall sports include sprained ligaments, like the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and medial collateral ligament (MCL), and pain around the kneecap (also called the patella).
Many knee injuries happen without contact with another player, often during a cut, a landing, or a sudden stop. A common pattern in those moments is the knee caving inward over the foot. There is also evidence that ACL injuries are more common when a players takes defensive actions versus offensive actions.
Add these movements to your dynamic warmup to prevent knee injuries:
1. Lateral lunge
Stand with your feet hip-width apart. Take a wide step to one side, bending that knee and sitting your hips back while the other leg stays straight and both feet point forward. Push through the heel of the bent leg to return to the start. Alternate sides or travel down the field.
Keep the bent knee lined up over your foot. Training that alignment during lunges, landings, and cuts is a core part of the injury-prevention warmups studied in soccer.
2. Forward bounds
Stand tall with your feet hip-width apart. Leap forward onto one foot, then spring straight into the next leap onto the other foot, bounding continuously for 10 to 15 yards. Start with smaller bounds and build up.
Bounds rehearse landing, the moment many knee injuries happen. Aim for soft, quiet landings with the hips and knees bending together and the knee tracking over the foot, which spreads the landing force through the whole leg.
3. Backward jog
Push off the balls of your feet and jog backward with a smooth, controlled stride, reaching back with your toes. Keep a slight forward lean at the hips, your chest up, and your arms swinging for balance. Cover 10 to 15 yards, and make sure the path behind you is clear.
In a lab study, backward running put less compression on the kneecap joint than forward running at the same speed, which makes it a gentle way to warm up the knees. It also rehearses the backpedal and quick stops that defenders use during play.
What does a full dynamic warmup look like before practice or a game?
Combine the previously suggested dynamic warmup movements together into one 10- to 15-minute routine before every practice and game. Do each move for 10 to 15 yards, or 10 to 12 repetitions per side. Start easy and finish fast, so the last thing you do before play is the most game-like.
Finish close to the start of play so you do not cool back down while you wait, and save long static stretches for after practice.
How does a Wright Physical Therapy clinician find the cause of a sports injury?
If something already hurts, a better warmup is not the fix. Finding the source of your pain is.
Wright PT’s clinical team includes board-certified orthopedic specialists (OCS) and clinicians certified in the McKenzie Method of Mechanical Diagnosis and Therapy (MDT). That matters to an athlete because it means we have the highest caliber of Doctors in Physical Therapy addressing your care needs.
After Wright PT determines the root cause of your pain or performance needs, our providers then create a personalized treatment plan tailored to your health goals. From there, treatment builds strength, balance, and control that gets you back to full practice and keeps you there.
When should an athlete stop playing and seek immediate medical help?
Stop playing and call your doctor the same day if you notice:
- A pop or snap at the moment of injury, followed by swelling
- Trouble putting weight on the leg, or you cannot take four steps
- A knee that buckles, gives way, or locks
- Large bruising on the back of the thigh after a sprint
- Pain that keeps getting worse or wakes you at night
Go to the emergency room or call 911 if you have:
- An obvious deformity of a bone or joint
- Numbness, tingling, or a cold or pale hand or foot after an injury
- Headache, dizziness, confusion, vomiting, or vision changes after a hit to the head
Frequently asked questions about preventing fall sports injuries
How long before a game should I do a dynamic warmup?
Plan on 10 to 15 minutes, and finish close to the start of play. If there is a long wait between your warmup and the whistle, repeat a few of the faster moves, like build-up sprints, right before you go in.
Is static stretching bad before a game?
Not bad, just not the best tool right before play. Save longer static stretching for after practice, when it can help build flexibility over time.
What should I do if I feel sharp pain during my warmup?
Stop the movement. Sharp, localized, or shooting pain is different from the mild pull of a stretch or the burn of tired muscles, and it is not something to push through. Tell your athletic trainer or coach. If the pain does not settle within a few days, or it comes back every practice, a physical therapy evaluation can find what is causing it.
Do I need a referral to see a physical therapist in Idaho or Utah?
No. Idaho and Utah both allow direct access to physical therapy, so you can book an evaluation at any Wright PT clinic without a referral. Don’t wait to feel better.
Will insurance cover physical therapy for a sports injury?
Treatment is part of your physical therapy session and falls under your normal PT benefits. Coverage details vary by plan, so call 208-969-9945 with any questions.
Book an evaluation at Wright PT
If an ankle, muscle, or knee injury slowed you down last season, or something hurts now, do not wait for it to sort itself out. Book an evaluation at any of Wright PT’s 21+ clinics across the Treasure Valley, Magic Valley, Mini-Cassia, eastern Idaho, and Logan, Utah. Your clinician will look for the cause and start treating it the same day, and many athletes feel a difference before they leave.
Don’t wait to feel better. No referral needed.
Schedule online at wrightpt.com/schedule-now/ or call 208-969-9945.
Get to the root of your pain and live fully.
Written by Emily Gravel-Fletcher, MHS and Kevin Cherry, PT, DPT, OCS
Sources
- Cherry K. Video on preventing the three most common fall sports injuries. Wright PT on Instagram.
- Hoveidaei AH, Moradi AR, Nakhostin-Ansari A, Mousavi Nasab MM, Taghavi SP, Eghdami S, Forogh B, Bagherzadeh Cham M, Murdock CJ. Risk Factors of Ankle Sprain in Soccer Players: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Sports. 2025; 13(4):105. https://doi.org/10.3390/sports13040105
- Warneke, K., & Lohmann, L. H. (2024). Revisiting the stretch-induced force deficit: A systematic review with multilevel meta-analysis of acute effects. Journal of Sport and Health Science, 13(6), 805–819. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jshs.2024.05.002
- Ding, L., Luo, J., Smith, D. M., Mackey, M., Fu, H., Davis, M., & Hu, Y. (2022). Effectiveness of Warm-Up Intervention Programs to Prevent Sports Injuries among Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(10), 6336. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19106336
- Hoveidaei, A. H., Moradi, A. R., Nakhostin-Ansari, A., Mousavi Nasab, M. M., Taghavi, S. P., Eghdami, S., Forogh, B., Bagherzadeh Cham, M., & Murdock, C. J. (2025). Risk Factors of Ankle Sprain in Soccer Players: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Sports, 13(4), 105. https://doi.org/10.3390/sports13040105
- Green, B., Bourne, M. N., van Dyk, N., & Pizzari, T. (2020). Recalibrating the risk of hamstring strain injury (HSI): A 2020 systematic review and meta-analysis of risk factors for index and recurrent hamstring strain injury in sport. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 54(18), 1081–1088. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2019-100983
- Herzog, M. M., Weiss, L., Lee, R. Y., Williams, T., Ramsden, S., Sills, A. K., & Mack, C. D. (2023). Lower extremity strains in the US National Football League, 2015–2019. The American Journal of Sports Medicine, 51(8), 2176–2185. https://doi.org/10.1177/03635465231175479
- Miralles-Iborra, A., Vera-Garcia, F. J., Elvira, J. L. L., Del Coso, J., Buckthorpe, M., Manchón-Davó, M., Rondón-Espinosa, H., De Los Ríos-Calonge, J., & Moreno-Pérez, V. (2026). Mechanisms, injury patterns and biomechanical factors of anterior cruciate ligament injuries in football (soccer): A systematic review and meta-analysis of video-analysis studies. Sports Medicine, 56(2), 465–480. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-025-02345-9