Astro Turf Injuries Compared to Grass Injuries

Since its debut at the Houston Astrodome in 1965, AstroTurf has been a source of much controversy in team sports. Athletes, trainers and commentators have debated the merits of artificial turf, such as AstroTurf, and natural grass playing surfaces for decades. Many consider artificial turf to be unsafe and a factor in sports injuries. While AstroTurf could be said to have increased the injury rate for athletes, modern technology has improved the quality of artificial playing surfaces and reduced injuries.

AstroTurf Development

• AstroTurf was first utilized indoors in the Astrodome in Houston, Texas. Since the indoor stadium received no sunlight, artificial turf was the only viable playing surface option. While AstroTurf required no sunlight or water and was inexpensive to maintain, a synthetic nylon or foam-based playing field is a much harder surface than natural grass.

Injuries

• Athletes, trainers and team doctors began to notice an increased number of injuries on artificial turf fields and speculated that the surface was to blame. Physicians began to speculate that AstroTurf increased the likelihood of incurring serious sports injuries, including anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears and concussions, as well as less severe injuries, such as turf toe. Additionally, according to a Dr. Mark Drakos article on the Hospital for Special Surgery's website, turf toe and turf burns were essentially nonexistent before the introduction of artificial turf.

Injury Source

• Drakos cites two main properties of AstroTurf that lead to injury: the coefficient of friction and the coefficient of restitution. The coefficient of friction is a measurement of the resistance of the surface; Astroturf fields have higher coefficients of friction, and thus, require more effort for someone to move his foot, resulting in turf toe, ankle and knee sprains and ACL tears. The coefficient of restitution is a measurement of the surface's shock absorption. Less absorption of force leads to more injuries when players collide with the surface, resulting in concussions and broken bones.

Injury Rates

• According to Drakos, the first significant study of the effects of AstroTurf indicated that National Football League (NFL) teams suffered more major injuries on AstroTurf than on natural grass, and they had turf toe and turf burns that would not have occurred otherwise. Drakos, however, also cited evidence suggesting that poorly maintained natural grass fields produced similar serious injuries, especially in cold-weather areas such as the Northeast.

Modern Artificial Turf

• AstroTurf has been largely replaced by newer technologies such as FieldTurf, SprinTurf and SportsTurf. These newer forms of artificial turf often integrate artificial dirt and more "realistic grass," leading to a softer surface with less friction. These newer forms of artificial turf are considered less dangerous than AstroTurf, though the evidence so far has been largely inconclusive.