At the time of the development of synthetic turf to play football without making the planet thirsty, researchers have looked into the question of its impact on the risk of injury to players.
- Playing football on synthetic turf is less likely to cause injury than on natural grass, researchers say.
- This type of surface had been the subject of debate among professionals in the sport.
- Synthetic is now favored for its lower impact on global warming.
Does playing football on an artificial turf lead to more injury risks? No, according to Finnish researchers who have just published the results of a systematic study and a meta-analysis in The Lancet.
Synthetic turf: it reduces the risk of injury
They conducted their research based on 1,447 studies and more than 67 comprehensive reports. According to them, both men and women had a lower incidence of injury on artificial turf than on any other type of playing surface.
This is particularly the case for professional players on artificial turf who are less likely to be injured than amateur players. In detail, the incidence of pelvic, thigh and knee injuries was lower on artificial turf, explain the authors.
Based on these results, artificial turfs appear to be safe surfaces for football as the overall incidence of injuries is decreasing, they say.
Global warming: synthetic turf has an undeniable advantage
Thus, according to the scientists, the risk of injury cannot be used as an argument against artificial turf when determining the optimal playing surface for football. The safety of artificial turf as a playing field has been debated ever since the first generation of artificial turf was introduced in the 1960s.
Today, encouraged by the FFF (French Football Federation) it is its positive impact on global warming that is unanimous since unlike a natural lawn, it does not require watering.
Moreover, today, local authorities direct 95% of new field projects to synthetic surfaces.
“Ihe stadium of the future will necessarily be synthetic”summarized a sports expert in the French regional daily newspaper l’Independent. For the good of the planet and the aficionados of this sport, then!
