Incidence of Injury Among Adolescent Soccer Players: A Comparative Study of Artificial and Natural Grass Turfs

Abstract

Adolescent players routinely training on AT for prolonged periods should be carefully monitored, even on AT conforming to new standards.

Pressure Pain Sensitivity Changes After Use of Shock-Absorbing Insoles Among Young Soccer Players Training on Artificial Turf: A Randomized Controlled Trial

“…Modern, artificial turfs, compared with natural grass, have the benefit of not being affected by weather conditions (eg, temperature and rain) 29 ; however, young soccer players training on artificial turf often report pain. 2,28 This finding is not corroborated by recent epidemiological studies showing that the use of a third-generation artificial turf is not associated with a higher risk of muscular injuries than natural grass. 11,23,28 Indeed, pressure sensitivity decreases (measured as an increase in pressure pain threshold [PPT]) among soccer players accustomed to playing on artificial turf compared with natural grass.…”

“…12 Complaints about the low back are common among young soccer players training on artificial turf. 2,28 Thus, the use of SAIs may help prevent lumbar pain among soccer players practicing on artificial turf. All in all, the findings in this study suggest that the nociceptive system was less sensitized after using SAIs for 3 weeks.…”

“…9,17 Furthermore, the PPT from the erector spinae muscle was assessed, as complaints of the low back are often reported by young soccer players training on artificial turf. 2,28 The PPTs were measured twice, with approximately 7.5 minutes between measurements, to avoid temporal summation. 6 Several studies have documented high intraexaminer and interexaminer reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC] = 0.76-0.97) for PPT assessment in patients with pain and healthy subjects.…”

The Nordic Football Injury Audit: Higher Injury Rates for Professional Football Clubs With Third-Generation Artificial Turf at Their Home Venue

“…2,3 Studies comparing injury rates on third-generation AT and NG at youth [4][5][6] and collegiate levels 7,8 have not revealed statistically significant differences in general.…”

No association between surface shifts and time-loss overuse injury risk in male professional football

“…Previous injury surveillance studies in male and female elite, l,2,3 male and female intercollegiate, 4,5 and male and female youth level, 6,7,8 have found no overall differences in acute injury rates between natural grass (NG) and AT. However, one study found a decreased overall injury rate on AT in female intercollegiate football, 9 but this study used different injury and exposure definitions compared with previous studies which make comparisons difficult.…”