Injury Rates On Fieldturf And Natural Grass For High School Football And Soccer.

Abstract

PURPOSE: Few studies have compared injury rates on natural grass and FieldTurf surfaces, especially in interscholastic sport populations. Prior studies have not reported differences in injury rates between FieldTurf and natural grass during practice and games in football and soccer. The purpose of our study was to compare the incidence of injury in high school football and soccer on natural grass and FieldTurf surfaces. METHODS: A total of 539 athletes who participated on eight boys' football (283 boys) and sixteen soccer (131 boys, 125 girls) teams in Western Washington were followed between the 1998 to 2001 interscholastic seasons for injury occurrence on FieldTurf and natural grass surfaces. All injuries were reported and verified by an athletic trainer/physical therapist. Injury rates were calculated per 1,000 athletic exposures. RESULTS: Injury rates on natural grass were significantly higher on FieldTurf for football (p<0.0001) and girls' soccer (p=0.0005). Injury rates were significantly higher on natural grass than FieldTurf for practices and games for football (p<0.0001) and girls' soccer (p=0.008). No significant differences were found between natural grass and FieldTurf in head-related trauma for football players (p=0.55). For other body locations, higher rates of knee injury for football (p=0.002) and ankle injury for girls' soccer (p=0.01) occurred on natural grass compared to FieldTurf. By injury type, higher rates of sprains for girls' soccer (p=0.03) and strains for football (p=0.003) occurred on natural grass compared to FieldTurf. By position, for football, higher rates of injury occurred on natural grass than FieldTurf for lineman (p<0.0001) and defensive backs (p=0.03). For girls' soccer, defenders had higher rates of injury on natural grass than FieldTurf (p=0.006). CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggest that a new generation of synthetic turf, FieldTurf, may lower the risk of injury in football and girls' soccer at the high school level. Further studies are needed to compare the risk of injury between the two surfaces in other high school sports like field hockey or lacrosse that also play on these field surfaces. Keywords: FieldTurf, injuries, prospective, high school