Injuries and Turf

[Mike D]

A lot of people probably noticed that injuries appear to be tied heavily to stadium turf.

IRL - I have always assumed that the antiquated astroturf was the biggest factor in causing injuries to players, but according to this article, old, worn out and hardened turf seems to be the real culprit.

Very similar to how it's configured in FOF.

The Truth about Turf (http://www.americanfootballmonthly.com/Subaccess/Magazine/2001/July'01/turf.html)

In fact, DeRosa said a worn-out grass field is harder than a new artificial-turf field. This is often typical at many levels of high-school football where ideal maintenance schedules simply cannot be followed.

"After a while, the high school field is going to be worn out at some point, and then you're playing on dirt," said DeRosa. "And there's nothing soft about that. The turf field we have at this point is safer than a worn-out grass field."

I figured I'd share this article since it seems to be a topic of interest lately.

[MrBigglesworth]

I thought part of the problem with turf was that your cleats get caught in it and it just doesn't let go easy, like velco. That was one of the two problems with the old Vet turf, that and it was concrete. So I don't know if it is just how hard it is that is the problem with turf.

[Mike D]

I think the Vet was worse because of it's relatively extreme elevation changes. I heard somebody say that they could stand on the 50 yard line and would only see a guy at the knee in one corner of one of the endzones. Which I think compounded the problems with that stadium's turf (and gave it the worst turf in the NFL award).

[Warhammer]

Also, the seams in the Vet's turf were terrible which exacerbated the problem.

For knees, what Mr. Bigglesworth touches on is correct, that is where you see the knees giving way.