The string of injuries to Neymar's right foot is worrying

On 25 February 2018, Neymar suffered a sprained right ankle injury that affected the fifth metatarsal: a bone located on the outer edge of the foot and is fundamental in the support of the leg and secondarily to the ligaments of the external wall of the ankle.

The injury has recurred twice: on 23 January 2019 and 5 June 2019. There was no definitive solution for the injury and it begins to affect very seriously the career of the player in the last year and a half. It has hindered his participation in key moments of the season both at his club and Brazil.

Fractures of the fifth metatarsal account for 80 percent of foot fractures experienced by the footballer. In 90 percent of cases they are proximal (closer to the ankle) and can be treated conservatively, as happened with Real Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos. These are the so-called avulsion fractures.

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When the fracture occurs closer to the middle third of the fifth metatarsal, its trigger mechanism is mechanical stress, which consists of a disproportionate support on this area of the bone, which in a repetitive way ends up producing the fracture.

In these cases, it is important to note that their solution is surgical and that, when they recur, they must be operated again in most cases. Numerous medical studies indicate that more than half of these fractures occur in the non-dominant foot of the footballer and that, in a very high percentage of them, the weight distribution of the body is done by overloading the outer edge of the foot.

Therefore, once the fracture has been corrected, the load exerted on the player's foot must be restructured. Obviously, we must take into account the whole locomotor system of the footballer and not just the foot, analysing the weight distribution that determines the whole structure of the locomotor system (study Go5D).

Numerous studies indicate a relationship between the internal rotation of the footballer's hip and the production of these fractures and it would therefore be insufficient to correct the load on the foot in isolation without taking into account the whole morphotype.

In the event that Neymar's new injury has affected only the ligaments of the ankle, once seen in the images, surgical treatment would be optional. But if there is a relapse of the injury to the fifth metatarsal, the player is most likely one step away from the operating room.