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JOURNAL
OF
SPORTS SCIENCE &
MEDICINE
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Case
report
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A HYPOTHESIS: COULD PORTABLE NATURAL GRASS BE A RISK FACTOR FOR KNEE INJURIES? |
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John Orchard1  ,
Gil Rodas2, Lluis Til2, Jordi Ardevòl2 and Ian Chivers3 |
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1University of Sydney, Australia, 2FC Barcelona, Spain, 3University of Melbourne, Australia. |
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© Journal of Sports Science and Medicine (2008) 7, 184 - 190 Search Google Scholar for Citing Articles |
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| ABSTRACT | |||
| Previous study has shown a likely link between increased shoe-
surface traction and risk of knee Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injury.
Portable natural grass systems are being used more often in sport, but no
study to date has investigated their relative safety. By their nature, they
must have high resistance to falling apart and therefore newly laid systems
may be at risk of creating excessive shoe-surface traction. This study describes
two clusters of knee injuries (particularly non-contact ACL injuries), each
occurring to players of one professional football team at single venue,
using portable grass, in a short space of time. The first series included
two ACL injuries, one posterolateral complex disruption and one lateral
ligament tear occurring in two rugby league games on a portable bermudagrass
surface in Brisbane, Australia. The second series included four non-contact
ACL injuries over a period of ten weeks in professional soccer games on
a portable Kentucky bluegrass/perennial ryegrass surface in Barcelona, Spain.
Possible intrinsic risk factors are discussed but there was no common risk
shared by the players. Although no measures of traction were made at the
Brisbane venue, average rotational traction was measured towards the end
of the injury cluster at Camp Nou, Barcelona, to be 48 Nm. Chance undoubtedly
had a part to play in these clusters, but the only obvious common risk factor
was play on a portable natural grass surface soon after it was laid. Further
study is required to determine whether portable natural grass systems may
exhibit high shoe-surface traction soon after being laid and whether this
could be a risk factor for knee injury.
Key words: Anterior cruciate ligament, bermudagrass, perennial ryegrass, Kentucky bluegrass. |
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