Feeling pain in any part of your body while playing football is not uncommon. According to the National Center for Sports Safety, after basketball, football causes more injuries than any other sport played in the United States. If you begin feeling pain in your upper left thigh during practice, this can be a due to any number of things that occurred on and off the field in the past 48 hours. Before attempting any home treatment, make an appointment to see your primary care physician for a full diagnosis.
Bruises
Muscle contusions, also referred to as bruises, can happen very easily in a violent contact sport like football. According to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, bruises occur when there has been a direct blow or repeated blows to any particular part of your body. When this happens, muscle fibers and connective tissues get crushed, causing pain that can last for several days. If, at any point, you were struck hard on your upper left thigh during football practice, it's possible that you have a muscle bruise.
Strains and Sprains
Muscle strains and sprains occur when any of your muscles are stretched or torn, according to the Mayo Clinic. This can happen when your muscles are moved past your natural range of motion, or if your body uses the muscle quickly and abruptly when the muscle isn't quite ready. Football is an anaerobic sport, meaning that you are constantly sprinting or performing intense, quick movements for less than 30 seconds at a time. One of these intense and quick movements may have caused your upper left thigh muscles to become strained or sprained.
DOMS
Feeling pain in your upper left thigh during practice doesn't necessarily mean that the injury occurred during practice. In fact, it may not have even occurred that day. According to Dr. Len Kravitz, a professor at the University of New Mexico, any muscle group that is exercised extensively can begin feeling sore within 24 hours, and can last as long as 96 hours. Resistance training, also referred to as weight lifting, can cause a delayed amount of pain in any one of your muscles. If you exercised your legs the day before, it's possible you are suffering from delayed onset muscle soreness, commonly referred to as DOMS, which is a phenomenon that is still being studied by scientists today.
Warnings
If the pain in your upper left thigh is severe enough to affect your performance on the field, stop playing immediately and inform your team trainer. Playing a physically demanding sport like football when you are injured is dangerous. You may begin using other muscles that aren't used to heavy loads to make up for the pain in your upper thigh, putting the other muscles at risk for injury. You may also have a small, moderate injury to your thigh, but pushing it to extremes may cause a severe injury, such as a muscle tear.
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