Can there be a more personal injury to a male professional athlete than a groin strain? Possibly, but it hits so close to home. Liverpool soccer player Steven Gerrard is out in his next friendly match against Germany. While the topic says soccer, for those across the pond and the rest of the world, the sport is known as football. Steven Gerrard hurt his groin in a game against Bolton, so he'll be unable to play for the national team. 

Before we start talking about the broken tibia and fibula of Kieron Dyer, let's take a moment and look at a photo of the injury:

Ouch. Check out how his leg is beginning to buckle. I cringe just looking at it.

Anyway, x-rays confirmed he's broken his tibia and fibula in the leg. The man cannot catch a break. Checkout Kieron Dyer's injury history:

Brazil is favored to win the world cup, but their super sub Robinho will be out for the match against Ghaha due to a thigh edema. He suffered the injury in the match against Japan. He started that match, but has been used as a sub primarily.

What is a thigh edema? We need to break this down first. We all know what the thigh is, right? It's the part of your leg that runs from your hip to your knee. Very powerful muscles are in the thighs. When you suffer an impact injury as Robinho did you can bruise your thigh area, which is what causes the edema. Edema is just extra fluid in a an area of your body. It accumulates at the point of this injury and might be blood or water that collects.

What are the symptoms of thigh edema? You'll have swelling in the affected area, and it will be sensitive to the touch. When edema occurs in the thighs it will make walking or running painful and labored.

If you've watched any of the 2006 World Cup you've become acquainted with the World Cup Stretcher Flop. This occurs when a soccer player suffers such a blow that the begin flopping around on the ground. You have to look closely for the offending hit by the opponent, since opponents in the World Cup move at the speed of light. Sometimes, you won't see a hit at all. Don't worry, the soccer players feel it.

When they feel that light speed hit they immediately drop to the ground and do the World Cup Stretcher Flop. This is usually accompanied by the sleek clutching of their knee or the fluid rubbing of their ankle. Shame on you if you feel that they are faking or embellishing their injury in any way. Tsk tsk if you feel they are just wasting time. This is a serious response to hard contact that no one saw since it happened so fast.

Flopping on the ground as they do, the player will grovel to the referee and then out comes the medical team. These lads are well equipped to handle the situation. A crew of six emerges out of the sidelines and onto the pitch. They quickly spring into action looking at the player, listening to the cries of pain and moving to help. Eventually they will decide that this injury is bad. This is where the fun starts.