A Comparison of Artificial Turf

BACKGROUND: In an attempt to decrease injuries, newer forms of artificial turf have been marketed. The purpose of this study was to determine whether a new shredded rubber-based turf improves impact attenuation. METHODS: An instrumented computerized impact recording device (IRD, Techmark, Lansing, MI) was dropped 20 times from a height of 48 inches onto five types of turf used by a professional football team. RESULTS: Duncan's multiple range test shows that the new rubber-based field and the older foam field are not significantly different. There were significant differences, however, between sites on the shredded rubber-based field. CONCLUSION: The change from a foam-based system to a shredded rubber-based system had no effect on impact attenuation overall. However, areas in the shredded rubber-based field were significantly compacted, causing some sites to be much harder than the foam-based surface it replaced.