[CBFF] NFL panel finds some injuries more common on turf - NFL- nbcsports.msnbc.com

Sat Mar 13 18:48:52 MST 2010

Yeah, but on the other hand, it's not the best time to have a bunch of away
games, competitively speaking.....

-Behr

On Sat, Mar 13, 2010 at 2:02 PM, Victor Waldron <victor19 at gmail.com> wrote:

> I agree. However Lamb-O does have some synthetic fibers woven through the
> sod to help it hold together better. It seems to work, you'd think they'd be
> able to put it in SF as well.
>
> Another thing that will help: not having the home schedule back loaded with
> November and December games. If I recall correctly we've had 3 home games in
> both November and December the past two seasons. It's not the best time of
> year for keeping turf in good condition.
>
> V
>
>
> On Sat, Mar 13, 2010 at 2:13 PM, Steve Behrens <steve.behrens at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>>
>> I still believe the Bears should always have real grass at Soldier Field.
>> I also believe that the Park District needs to figure out how to grow and
>> maintain the stuff.
>>
>> How often does Lamblow re-sod each year?  I don't believe they re-sod each
>> year.  Or if they do, it's only once. (I could be wrong as I've done
>> absolutely no investigating of Lamblow's field).
>>
>> What the Park service needs to do is plant seed, keep people off of it all
>> summer (yeah, right) and let it establish itself.  Aerate regularely to keep
>> it un-comapcted, fertilize, water, and the Bears would have the best playing
>> field in the league that wouldn't self destruct late in the season.
>>
>> It's not that hard, but the Park service sure makes it out to be.
>>
>> -Behr
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sat, Mar 13, 2010 at 8:44 AM, Tom Shannon <tshanno at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> [image: MSN Tracking Image]
>>>  ------------------------------
>>> NFL panel finds some injuries more common on turf
>>> By BARRY WILNER, RACHEL COHEN
>>> AP Sports Writers, AP Sports Writers
>>> The Associated Press
>>> updated 11:36 p.m. CT, Thurs., March. 11, 2010
>>>
>>> NEW YORK - An NFL panel found that certain serious knee and ankle
>>> injuries happen more often in games played on the most popular brand of
>>> artificial turf than on grass.
>>>
>>> The league's Injury and Safety Panel is presenting its study Friday at
>>> the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons in New
>>> Orleans.
>>>
>>> The report examined the 2002-08 NFL seasons, comparing games played on
>>> grass to those on FieldTurf. It found that the rate of anterior cruciate
>>> ligament injuries was 88 percent higher in FieldTurf games — a conclusion
>>> the manufacturer of the synthetic field hotly disputes.
>>>
>>> Panel chairman Dr. Elliott Hershman, a Jets team orthopedist, said it's
>>> too soon to make any recommendations on what surface teams should choose.
>>> More research is needed on issues such as whether players are wearing the
>>> right types of shoes on artificial turf.
>>>
>>> "At this point we want to stimulate more discussion," he said.
>>>
>>> The panel has presented its findings to league owners, the NFL Players
>>> Association and companies that make artificial turf. The study has been
>>> submitted for publication.
>>>
>>> "The paper is designed to stimulate further discussion, inquiry, and
>>> improvements in playing surfaces," league spokesman Greg Aiello said. "It
>>> does not draw any conclusions about the cause of the injuries analyzed. Our
>>> panel states in the report that additional analyses, data from future NFL
>>> seasons, and studies of injury rates on synthetic turf and natural grass
>>> surfaces, including for other athletic populations and levels of football,
>>> are needed before any conclusions can be drawn or recommendations made."
>>>
>>> Nine NFL stadiums currently have FieldTurf (Cincinnati, Detroit,
>>> Indianapolis, New England, Atlanta, Minnesota, St. Louis, Seattle and the
>>> new Meadowlands Stadium).
>>>
>>> NFL teams began switching from the old carpet-style turf to the
>>> springier, more grass-like surface in 2000. By the end of the 2008 season,
>>> 14 stadiums used a brand of next-generation turf, while the rest had grass.
>>> Too few games were played on brands other than FieldTurf to include them in
>>> the study, Hershman said.
>>>
>>> The panel started to notice a higher rate of injuries on the new turf in
>>> evaluating the data the NFL compiles each season, Hershman said. Once enough
>>> games had been played on the newer surfaces to do a scientific analysis, the
>>> panel found that ACL injuries and a more serious type of ankle sprain
>>> occurred at a higher rate that is statistically significant.
>>>
>>> The rate for the ankle sprains was 32 percent higher on FieldTurf than on
>>> grass. MCL injuries and a less serious type of ankle sprain also happened
>>> more frequently, but the difference was not statistically significant.
>>>
>>> Hershman noted the NFL research may not apply to lower levels of football
>>> or to other sports.
>>>
>>> FieldTurf president Eric Daliere argues that the panel's methods are
>>> faulty and cites research by Montana State professor Michael Meyers that has
>>> been published in The American Journal of Sports Medicine. Meyers' work,
>>> though, has only looked at high school and college football, and not the
>>> NFL. FieldTurf paid for Meyers' recent study that found lower overall injury
>>> rates for college games played on the surface.
>>>
>>> "Michael Meyers has come to a very different conclusion on a different
>>> level and his is a real study, not just a report," Daliere said. "He
>>> mentions poorly designed (analyses) — and this is the kind of work he does —
>>> and that the statistical analysis by the (NFL) panel was also flawed.
>>>
>>> "I don't put a lot of weight in it and think if is unfortunate it is
>>> coming out this way at this time."
>>>
>>> Meyers said in an e-mail to The Associated Press that he told the NFL in
>>> 2008 "there are too many glaring omissions and biases in the study to reach
>>> any valid conclusions." He questioned why certain factors that could
>>> influence injury rates were not included and noted that some teams didn't
>>> play any games on FieldTurf during some of the seasons studied.
>>>
>>> Other university scientists and statisticians also expressed concerns, he
>>> said, and the panel withdrew its report after those meetings.
>>>
>>> Hershman disputed that.
>>>
>>> "Nobody withdrew anything," he said. "We actually did some review of our
>>> data based on some of the thoughts they raised, and we validated our data.
>>> Because we did all that, we now feel our data is valid, relevant and
>>> statistically significant."
>>>
>>> FieldTurf promotes the safety benefits of its product on its Web site.
>>>
>>> "As a company," Daliere said, "the safety of the athletes really is in
>>> our DNA. It's what FieldTurf focused on from the very beginning when we
>>> replaced traditional Astroturf with something dramatically safer."
>>>
>>> Daliere mentioned that Hershman's team, the Jets, will have FieldTurf in
>>> its new stadium.
>>>
>>> A close look at the panel's data may not have much effect on NFL teams
>>> who know they can save money on maintenance in the long run by using
>>> FieldTurf rather than grass. The study estimated that if every stadium with
>>> grass were to switch to FieldTurf, that would result in only five additional
>>> ACL injuries per season across the NFL because of the infrequency of the
>>> injury.
>>>
>>> The NFLPA's biennial poll of its players last year showed that their four
>>> favorite fields were grass: Arizona, Tampa, San Diego and Carolina. Four of
>>> the next six were FieldTurf.
>>> Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material
>>> may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
>>>
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