Sports & Leisure Facilities
Years ago, many players, coaches and trainer felt that playing or training on artificial turf lead to more injuries. This was true for soccer as well as other sports like American football, field hockey and lacrosse. Recent advances in technology have lead to “third generation” artificial turf that can be found on many public fields and in some professional stadia. But, the debate continues. Does playing or training on turf raise injury risk? Over the past several years, several studies have compared injury rates on turf and grass for several sports. Recently, we compiled the research on soccer and, using a meta-analysis attempted to determine if there is increase risk of injury on turf. We found that playing or training on turf does not raise the potential for acute injury. However, changes in the style of play and/or player perception of turf may affect injury risk.
