Injuries: Is a change in Turf the answer?

[HuskerSuperGenius]

I will throw out the question for the board.

We have had a lot of injuries, attributed to many things.

I wonder if we should revisit the issue of playing on turf since they can do marvelous things with heated grass fields in cold weather areas (See Green Bay field).

For reference DONU uses Second Generation Field Turf with cork instead of tire for filler installed in 2013 I think.

Here is a graph from a study of football injuries (NFL) from 2006-2012:





You will notice that there is no statical difference between surfaces although a trend for an increase from left to right.

I will also live you with a link from a paper from Stanford quoting a higher incidence of ACL injuries on Field Turf compared to grass.

Revisiting the Artificial Turf vs. Natural Grass Injury Debate | Sideline Sports Doc

I've written previously about injury rates on FieldTurf versus natural grass and in 2011 one well conducted study showed a substantially higher injury rate on FieldTurf. I revisited this issue in 2013 when my partner at Stanford Dr. Jason Dragoo presented results of his study of NCAA athletes...

www.sidelinesportsdoc.com

Note there is never been a higher incidence of injuries on turf with soccer players.

I would also like to look at what type of shoulder pads we wear to see if there is any data about differences in shoulder injuries by manufacturers since we seem to have a lot of shoulder issues this year. If any one knows what kind we wear I would love to know.

GBR.

 

[AnnArborHusker]

Note there is never been a higher incidence of injuries on turf with soccer players.

Great stuff! For clarification, do you mean there are more injuries to soccer players that now play on Field Turf than before when playing on grass?

Also, what is this Matrix Turf you speak of and where can we get it?!! Seems to be better than any other surface including grass.

 

[HuskerSuperGenius]

Great stuff! For clarification, do you mean there are more injuries to soccer players that now play on Field Turf than before when playing on grass?

Also, what is this Matrix Turf you speak of and where can we get it?!! Seems to be better than any other surface including grass.

No increase in injuries on turf noted amongst soccer players versus grass surfaces in any study ever.

Matrix Turf:

Matrix Turf - Synthetic Turf Systems

Complete turf systems matched to every sport and every need. Adapted for weather and playability.

www.matrix-turf.com

Baylor University has it.

 

[anotherdumbprediction]

Baylor University has it.

So for our players to get to the Matrix, they have to enter the Portal?

 

[HUSKER HOT SAUCE]

maybe we should just take all the fake turf, and real grass out, and just have a dirt lot. Could be fun in a rain storm, and dirty.

 

[Lavaman]

So for our players to get to the Matrix, they have to enter the Portal?

You have to take the red pill first

 

[MadRat]

Also, what is this Matrix Turf you speak of and where can we get it?!! Seems to be better than any other surface including grass.

The Dallas Cowboys seem to like it. Cal has it, too. It doesn't sound like the turf was to blame for a sudden spike in injuries.

Pac-12 football: Cal Bears facing injury epidemic

Pac-12 football: Cal Bears facing injury epidemic

www.mercurynews.com

I wonder how they mitigate the carbon black factor turfs like this had in the past.

 

[jmcsundance]

I will throw out the question for the board.

We have had a lot of injuries, attributed to many things.

I wonder if we should revisit the issue of playing on turf since they can do marvelous things with heated grass fields in cold weather areas (See Green Bay field).

For reference DONU uses Second Generation Field Turf with cork instead of tire for filler installed in 2013 I think.

Here is a graph from a study of football injuries (NFL) from 2006-2012:

View attachment 32838



You will notice that there is no statical difference between surfaces although a trend for an increase from left to right.

I will also live you with a link from a paper from Stanford quoting a higher incidence of ACL injuries on Field Turf compared to grass.

Revisiting the Artificial Turf vs. Natural Grass Injury Debate | Sideline Sports Doc

I've written previously about injury rates on FieldTurf versus natural grass and in 2011 one well conducted study showed a substantially higher injury rate on FieldTurf. I revisited this issue in 2013 when my partner at Stanford Dr. Jason Dragoo presented results of his study of NCAA athletes...

www.sidelinesportsdoc.com

Note there is never been a higher incidence of injuries on turf with soccer players.

I would also like to look at what type of shoulder pads we wear to see if there is any data about differences in shoulder injuries by manufacturers since we seem to have a lot of shoulder issues this year. If any one knows what kind we wear I would love to know.

GBR.

Interesting study. Thanks for posting. My youngest son is an orthopedic surgeon so I'll run it by him at some point for anecdotal information if he has any. He's more interested in elbows and shoulders from a pitcher's perspective but deals with football knees, hips and ankles as well.

From a father's perspective, I watched 25 years of soccer play of my sons. They were both All-State so the competition level was very high. I don't recall any knee injuries of the players. One broken leg. One broken ankle. And one strained MCL. The latter happened to my oldest son in the State semis which they won. He was out for the State Championship game. The broken leg was a friend of his - almost lost his leg - pretty gruesome but another kid's Dad was in the stands who happened to be an MD and he prevented the leg from having a short-circuited blood supply.

Turf and natural grass fields were used.

 

[WestTexasHusker]

Is natural grass not an option?

 

[HUSKER HOT SAUCE]

Is natural grass not an option?

Not for schools like Texas and Florida St. They simply cannot have the cheerleaders grazing at halftime.... yuck yuck....

 

[Twelve String]

Last year we had a lot of players out with S&C injuries. Maybe that's the case this year as well? Hard to know since Frost doesn't reveal anything about injuries.

 

[wcbsas]

I will throw out the question for the board.

We have had a lot of injuries, attributed to many things.

I wonder if we should revisit the issue of playing on turf since they can do marvelous things with heated grass fields in cold weather areas (See Green Bay field).

For reference DONU uses Second Generation Field Turf with cork instead of tire for filler installed in 2013 I think.

Here is a graph from a study of football injuries (NFL) from 2006-2012:

View attachment 32838



You will notice that there is no statical difference between surfaces although a trend for an increase from left to right.

I will also live you with a link from a paper from Stanford quoting a higher incidence of ACL injuries on Field Turf compared to grass.

Revisiting the Artificial Turf vs. Natural Grass Injury Debate | Sideline Sports Doc

I've written previously about injury rates on FieldTurf versus natural grass and in 2011 one well conducted study showed a substantially higher injury rate on FieldTurf. I revisited this issue in 2013 when my partner at Stanford Dr. Jason Dragoo presented results of his study of NCAA athletes...

www.sidelinesportsdoc.com

Note there is never been a higher incidence of injuries on turf with soccer players.

I would also like to look at what type of shoulder pads we wear to see if there is any data about differences in shoulder injuries by manufacturers since we seem to have a lot of shoulder issues this year. If any one knows what kind we wear I would love to know.

GBR.

Living in Wisconsin ... until this year (under a new coaching regime) Packers had (as compared to the rest of the league) an inordinately amount of injuries as compared to the league average.

A lot of media attention is being brought to how healthy the Packers are this year under LaFleur versus McCarthy. I am starting to believe injuries may have more to do with practice patterns/habits than it does the surface you are playing on ... don't forget ... the teams spends 10x of its time on its practice fields than it does on Memorial Stadium!

 

[HuskerSuperGenius]

Living in Wisconsin ... until this year (under a new coaching regime) Packers had (as compared to the rest of the league) an inordinately amount of injuries as compared to the league average.

A lot of media attention is being brought to how healthy the Packers are this year under LaFleur versus McCarthy. I am starting to believe injuries may have more to do with practice patterns/habits than it does the surface you are playing on ... don't forget ... the teams spends 10x of its time on its practice fields than it does on Memorial Stadium!

Most of the time it is the Hawk Center which is also Field Turf, no?

 

[RedRum]

I will throw out the question for the board.

We have had a lot of injuries, attributed to many things.

I wonder if we should revisit the issue of playing on turf since they can do marvelous things with heated grass fields in cold weather areas (See Green Bay field).

For reference DONU uses Second Generation Field Turf with cork instead of tire for filler installed in 2013 I think.

Here is a graph from a study of football injuries (NFL) from 2006-2012:

View attachment 32838



You will notice that there is no statical difference between surfaces although a trend for an increase from left to right.

I will also live you with a link from a paper from Stanford quoting a higher incidence of ACL injuries on Field Turf compared to grass.

Revisiting the Artificial Turf vs. Natural Grass Injury Debate | Sideline Sports Doc

I've written previously about injury rates on FieldTurf versus natural grass and in 2011 one well conducted study showed a substantially higher injury rate on FieldTurf. I revisited this issue in 2013 when my partner at Stanford Dr. Jason Dragoo presented results of his study of NCAA athletes...

www.sidelinesportsdoc.com

Note there is never been a higher incidence of injuries on turf with soccer players.

I would also like to look at what type of shoulder pads we wear to see if there is any data about differences in shoulder injuries by manufacturers since we seem to have a lot of shoulder issues this year. If any one knows what kind we wear I would love to know.

GBR.

The rate in there is a about 1 injury per 1000 athlete exposures. 7 games per year with 70 players would mean a difference of about 1 injury every 2 seasons. At that incidence rate, how would you even tell?

Bottom line is no, we should not revisit playing on turf.

 

[FLA4NEB]

This is such an offseason thread topic...#sad