In the NCAA research, there were a total of 3,009,205 athlete exposures and 2,460 knee ligament and meniscal tears reported by the NCAA Injury Surveillance System throughout the 2004-2005 to 2013-2014 NCAA playing seasons. Injury rates for all knee ligament and meniscal tears examined during this period were higher during competitions than in practices. Analysis of this data indicate a significantly increased rate of posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) and anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) on artificial turf compared to natural grass during competitive events. Although, there were no differences in the rate of medial collateral ligament (MCL), medial meniscal, or lateral meniscal injuries.
Specifically, athletes in Division I competitions experienced PCL tears at 2.99 times the rate on artificial turf (199 percent increase) as they did on natural grass. Division II and III athletes experience ACL tears at 1.63 times the rate of those playing on natural grass and 3.13 times the number of PCL tears as those playing on natural grass. Tis equates to a 63 percent increase in ACL tears and a 213 percent increase in PCL tears to Division II and III football players on artificial turf. Furthermore, the rate of PCL tears during competition in all divisions on artificial turf was 2.94 times higher (194 percent increase) than on natural grass.
Te research and scientific communities will undoubtedly continue to investigate injuries among athletes, causal mechanisms, relationships between cleats and playing surfaces, and more. More information on each of these two studies can be found in the original research manuscripts at the citations to the right. You can also visit
www.TurfGrassSod.org/Resources.
Citations: Hershman E, Anderson R, Bergfeld J, et al. An analysis of specific lower extremity injury rates on grass and FieldTurf playing surfaces in National Football League games. Te American Journal of Sports Medicine. 2012; 40(10):2200-2205.
Kerr Z, Dompier T, Snook E, et al. National Collegiate Athletic Association Injury Surveillance System: review of methods for 2004-2005 through 2013-2014 data collection. J Athl Train. 2014;49(4):552-560.
Loughran, Galvin J., Vulpis, Christian T., Murphy, Jordan P., Weiner, David A., Svoboda, Steven J. Hinton, Richard Y., and Dave P. Milzman. Incidence of Knee Injuries on Artificial Turf Versus Natural Grass in National Collegiate Athletic Association American Football: 2004-2005 Trough 2013-2014 Seasons. Te American Journal of Sports Medicine 2019;47(6):1294–1301.
Mack C, Hershman E, Anderson R, et al. Higher rates of lower extremity injury on synthetic turf compared with natural turf among National Football League athletes: epidemiologic confirmation of a biomechanical hypothesis. Te American Journal of Sports Medicine. 2019;47(1):189-196.
Casey Reynolds, PhD is executive director of Turfgrass Producers International.
Photos that appear in this article are stock images, used with permission. Te graphics that appear in this article were provided by TPI and are part of TPI brochures based on the results of the NFL and NCAA case studies cited in the article. Te brochures, “NFL Injury Rates Research” and “NCAA Injury Rates Research” are available on the TPI website:
www.TurfGrassSod.org/Resources.
of TPI Turf News November/December 2019 95
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