Turf causing the injuries?

[Firebreather]

What so you guys think? Is the proliferation of turf fields in Southeastern Ohio causing more injuries? I feel that it is a problem. I do not have any data on how many injuries there have been but it seems to be really bad this year. Concussions could even be attributed to it as the athlete is moving a little bit faster and heads landing on a harder surface causes some concussions. What do you think?

[Hylander]

You may have a point, but the elimination of rough surfaces also prevents a lot of lower body injuries.

[Tigeralum71]

If it were 20 years ago with the predominate artificial surface being Astroturf, then 1/2" thin foam padding, on top of asphalt or concrete, I'd agree. but today's FieldTurf surfaces and their competitors, I'd say no, the surface is as good as grass, but Ok, maybe not as soft as field mud.
Field turf blades are about 4" long and theres a good 1-1/2" of a mix of sand and chipped tire rubber to absorb the impact. yes, that is on top of a chipped rock substrate that helps drain rainwater faster than Astroturf did.

My experience is based on having the chance years ago in the Pontiac Silverdome when the Lions had a season ticket holder "Meet the players" afternoon on the floor of the Silverdome and later in the 2002 time frame when our HS Band rented the Silverdome for practice before going to play in Indy at the National Championship . a In both of those instances we played a bit of football and being tackled on 'turf was hard.
A year later our high school installed Field Turf and getting to play/get tackled on that was similar to my high school days on early season grass. At about the same time my Son had joined a winter indoor soccer team and the venue had just installed field turf.
Running on it and intentionally tripping and falling on field turf was much more like outdoor on good thick grass it was almost a cushion.
The NFL statistics bear this out. Grass and field turf injury rates were nearly identical and way better than AstroTurf on hard surfaces.

[Tigeralum71]

Oh, I forgot, the real reason injuries are higher today is speed. Back in my day of the late 60's early 70's, Offensive linemen were 155-205 pounds. they ran 40's in about 5.0 seconds
Today O-Line runs 200-275 and run the 40 in sub 5.0 times
Force is Mass times Velocity squared. so the force in a tackle or straight on hit is much higher today.
Ok and more kids are in better shape also leading to higher speeds.

[cbolt]

There was some talk awhile back the rubber pellets causing cancer in athletes playing on it. Have not heard anything lately on that. As far as injuries not sure. Would think it would save injuries but it definitely better than the old astroturf concrete.

[Orange and Brown]

NY has has turf for a good while now and I haven't noticed any more injuries than someone would get on grass.
I'd say it's a little safer than a grass field. No holes to step in and no mud.

[gametime]

Same injury's happens on grass, they will always be injury's

[noreply66]

On the old turf you were hearing a lot of turf toe. Seem like you don't hear that with turf being better.

[ArmChairQB]

NY has has turf for a good while now and I haven't noticed any more injuries than someone would get on grass.
I'd say it's a little safer than a grass field. No holes to step in and no mud.

I Disagree- NY seems to have had more non-contact injuries like ACLs and MCLs Since they started playing at least 5 and sometimes 7-8 games a year on turf. Also we will probably find out that the recycled rubber causes cancer.

[Crab's Brother]

At Valley we have had significantly less injuries on the turf than we have on grass.

A few years back we lost two of our better players during grass games.

[farmer]

I watched a report on turf and the non contact injuries were a problem. That had a lot to do with wearing the right shoes to match the turf. That grip but not to much so then can not stick in the turf when the legs get hit that knees do not blow out. As well as sometimes players when hit needed to go with it and raise their legs and go with the pressure to prevent injuries. They gave some other tips that I do not remember. Then just like any playing surface is what shape the surface is.

[Wildcatter]

Have had a lot of parents and coaches over the past few years say that rubber pellets get in the kids earn canals and promotes bacterial growth where players have had dermatologist diagnosis the cause from field turf playing surfaces. Also some attribute non contact injuries as mentioned in earlier posts such as ligament injuries.