Athletic Injuries and Synthetic Playing Surfaces
John D. Goodner D.P.M. is a board-certified foot and ankle surgeon. He specializes in treating foot, ankle, and leg injuries in children, teenagers, and adults. He is trained to perform the latest minimally invasive and arthroscopic surgical techniques. Growing up locally in Broward County, he was a two-sport varsity letterman... more
Generations of advancing technology have provided the most durable and versatile artificial surfaces now installed at the professional, collegiate, and high school fields and arenas. Musculoskeletal injury is greatly impacted by the interface between the athletes shoe and the playing surface. Biomechanical data suggests that torque and strain are greater on artificial turf rather than natural grass.
Shoe playing surface interface plays a major role in injury prevention but is subject to many intrinsic factors (body weight, velocity, acceleration, deceleration, loading rate, foot stance, and height before foot contact) and extrinsic factors (footwear, type of playing surface, weather, cleat/stud material, cleat configurations, number and size of cleats).
Findings:
- Knee is the most common injured joint, followed by the ankle
- Knee and Ankle injuries occur at higher incidences on artificial surfaces at the professional level
- In opposition, several studies have concluded lower injury rates on artificial surfaces at college and high school levels
- Flexible footwear in combination with artificial turf places the athlete at high risk for turf toe injury
- The rate of ankle sprain has been reported higher at the professional level
- Skin abrasions occur more often with artificial turf and are more likely to carry bacterial infection risk
- No data supports airway irritation or carcinogenic risk claims
Cleat Recommendations:
- Small cleats in turf shoes have the lowest plantar pressure, minimizing metatarsal stress fracture risk
- Edge cleats create more torque and are the highest risk for ACL injury
- Shoes with more cleats in the forefoot than heel create more torque, increasing injury risk
- Increase in number of cleats, cleat length, cleat diameter, increase surface area and increase torque, therefore increasing injury risk
- For third generation artificial surfaces, the safest cleats are those with the smallest cleat length and tip diameter
