During the 2022 World Cup match on November 29, U.S. Men’s National Team (USMNT) soccer star Christian Pulisic scored the winning goal against Iran, but later, he was diagnosed with a “pelvic contusion.”
When Pulisic scored the game’s final goal, he was injured. He crashed into Alireza Beiranvand, the Iranian goalkeeper.
After getting treatment, he gently jogged beside the field while wincing in pain. He returned to the game and participated in the last few seconds of the half before leaving the game due to injury. The collision left Pulisic in a heap, unable to celebrate at all, and unable to play after halftime despite gritting out the final few minutes of the half.
USMNT head coach Gregg Berhalter initially described it as an “abdominal injury” when speaking to reporters at halftime. The concern was later confirmed to be a “pelvic contusion,” with the clear worry of internal bleeding or damage, rather than any superficial injury. These kinds of injuries are typically associated with car accidents, which goes to show how forceful the collision was.
After the 1-0 victory, Pulisic’s teammates FaceTimed him from their locker room, and several of them afterward reported that he was “OK” and in “Good spirits.”
US captain Tyler Adams remarked, “I know he’ll do anything to play in the game.”
Fortunately, Pulisic was discharged quickly. He even welcomed the players back to their hotel after leaving the stadium.
Pulisic expressed some optimism that he will be available for Saturday’s Last 16 match against the Netherlands in a Snapchat message that later went viral.
What Is ‘Pelvic Contusion’
A bruise in the pelvic area is called a pelvic contusion. Essentially the term “contusion” in medicine refers to a bruise.
The most significant cause of pelvic contusion is significant trauma. Even while recovering from pelvic injuries can be challenging, with the right treatment, most contusions recover fast.
According to Dr. John Vasudevan, associate professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at the University of Pennsylvania, “ when a bone, muscle or tendon is bruised, it leads to a disruption in the tissue.”
“ If you were to take a microscope and look down at some of these structures you will see the normal alignment of all the components of the bone or whatever tissue has been injured will look sort of out of order or jumbled. Because that injury requires repair, that repair leads to a big, inflammatory reaction by your body, but that response, which is normal and natural, is painful,” he said.
“it’s your body’s normal, protective mechanism to say, ‘maybe now’s not a good time to play soccer,’ but Christian is probably saying no,” he added
The impact’s sheer force caused the contusion because it overcame the structural integrity of the wounded portion of the pelvis.
The speed at which Pulisic was traveling when he ran into the goalie who was very much planted in place may have accelerated that. There is simply a limit to what the human body is capable of enduring. A direct hit was made and he had to be feeling fairly miserable.
To prepare for Saturday’s game, Pulisic is probably engaging in progressive stretching, strengthening, and soccer-specific drills to predict what his performance will be like, but also a lot of medications and modalities, which is a larger umbrella term for things like…massage and electrical stimulation- things trainers and physical therapists might do to help reduce the pain and allow him to push his body to its limits,” said Vasudevan.
He also added that he is concerned about whether Pulisic will be able to play the game on Saturday throughout. It won’t be dangerous for him to play Saturday’s match, but he should be aware to play without injuring himself.
At half of the game on Tuesday, Brenden Aaronson took over for Pulisic, and if Pulisic isn’t available on Saturday, he’ll probably start in his stead. But as per the reports, USMNT’s soccer star will return on Saturday’s match against the Netherlands.
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