Artificial Turf A Dangerous Playing Surface Essay

Artificial Turf: A Dangerous Playing Surface Essay, Research Paper

Artificial Turf: A Dangerous Playing Surface

Some of the changes that have occurred in professional football were

necessary for the game. Pads, helmets and other protective equipment helped the

players safety. Other developments though, especially artificial turf, have

proven themselves detrimental to the game and its participants. Just as changes

were made earlier, they must be made again. Stadiums need to convert back to

grass playing fields for the safety of football players, the satisfaction of the

fans, and most importantly to improve the sport overall.

What Is Artificial Turf.

Like Kleenex or Xerox, AstroTurf has become the popular moniker for all

artificial playing surfaces impersonating natural grass in the modern sports

world. Born in the 1960’s out of a military project to improve the physical

fitness of urban teenagers, AstroTurf,along with its foreign and domestic

impostors that were eventually squeezed out of the industry, was developed as a

cheaper, more durable, low maintenance alternative to grass as a playing surface

for football, baseball, and soccer. The original sales pitch rang true with all

the sincerity of a beer commercial: All the fun of the regular grass, with only

a third of the maintenance. Monsanto, AstroTurf’s original manufacturer, had an

ace in hole as well; grass doesn’t grow very well in domes. Seduced by visions

of conquering Mother Nature and paying a couple kids minimum wage to run a

vacuum cleaner over the field between games, stadium executives across the

nation bought into the AstroTurf movement. However, as the powers that be soon

discovered f or themselves, AstroTurf proved to be neither cheaper nor lower

maintenance than grass, and it had a nasty little side effect. Players, coaches,

and trainers began to notice a substantial increase in the frequency of injuries

on the improved traction and reduced cushion of AstroTurf. Doctors even

identified and named a few new ones, common only to the artificial surface.

Turf Injuries

The relative hardness of AstroTurf has spawned an unpleasant little chronic

injury called turf toe. It occurs when the big toe is crushed into an artificial

surface, ramming the toe back up into the foot and ripping up any ligaments and

tissue it might encounter along the way. A little less serious but somewhat more

messy ailment turf burn, which like turf toe, simply would not exist without

Astroturf. Turf burn occurs just about anytime exposed skin comes in contact

with the artificial surface, which in a contact sport like football, is about

every thirty seconds. Because AstroTurf has about the same texture as a

toothbrush and it can sizzle at about 30 degrees higher than the air temperature

on a hot day, it rips off flesh with the efficiency of sandpaper. And aside from

the nagging pain and constant threat of infections, turf burn offers the added

bonus of making you stick to your sheets every night as you sleep. These,

however, are but minor ailments. The notion that an increase in major injuries,

particularly to the anterior cruciate ligament in the knee is a direct result of

AstroTurf has been a more hotly debated issue. In 1974, the Stanford Research

Institute International (SRI) completed a six year study commissioned by the

National Football League on the health effects of artificial turf. SRI reported

that “in 17 out of 17 categories, natural grass was safer to play on than

artificial surfaces.” Joe Grippo, the director of SRI, later admitted that

“synthetic surfaces could not be justified, not on an injury prevention basis,

not on a relative cost basis.” Those facts, however, did not stop the NFL

Players Association from conducting its own injury studies. The NFLPA concluded

for the 1984 season that “the average turf injury took longer to heal, that the

number of players increased by a third and that the number of missed games

doubled when the injuries occurred on turf.” More recently, an ESPN poll

conducted in September 1995 likewise found that 98 percent of NFL players

believe playing on AstroTurf will shorten their careers. The NFLPA’s reasoning

for the increase in injuries echoed what common sense and trainers across the

League had been saying for years. AstroTurf, because of its augmented traction,

split seems, and permanent high and low spots (known as “birdbaths”), sometimes

causes a player’s feet to stick to the ground. “The resulting torque places

enormous pressure on joints like the knee and the ankle, resulting in a greater

number of torn tendons and ligaments.”

Football Players’ Preferences

The results of a January 1997 study by the NFL Players Association showed that

nine out of 10 NFL players believe playing on artificial turf is more likely

than grass to cause the kind of serious injuries that shorten care

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