Dominick Doyle Abstract

Abstract: 

Lower extremity injuries, including injuries to anything below the waist (ACL tear, Ankle breaks, Femur fractures, etc…), are one of the most commonly seen injuries in sports. When a person themselves generates excessive loading and movement this creates stress which in turn can result in a non-contact injury to occur. Sports require these rapid movements in all directions and the ability to change direction quickly is essential. Athlete's ability to accelerate and decelerate is largely influenced by available traction. One extrinsic factor that can have a large effect on athletic performance is the playing surface. Different surfaces have different coefficients of friction, or what affects the force it takes to move one surface horizontally over another.. In addition it is important for athletes to choose the proper footwear to prevent sliding and give the player proper traction. It is expected to find that natural grass playing surfaces will obtain higher coefficients, or more traction, leading to a possible decrease in athletic non-contact injuries to the lower extremity. The purpose of this study is to find what playing surface could be the safest for athletes, with a possible correlation to reduce injury in sports. This study found that natural grass playing surfaces exhibited a higher μ at all testing locations when compared to artificial turf, with a significance found between mean values of both groups (turf vs grass). This could possibly lead to an increased athletic performance on grass surfaces and a possible reduction in rates of injuries for athletes.