No link between artificial grass and sports injuries

Many homes and schools around the UK have installed artificial grass, and North Wales is no exception. Fears have been raised over whether artificial grass causes more injuries, but research does not back this up.

Leading names in football, such as Belgium manager Roberto Martinez and former Tottenham Hotspur boss Harry Redknapp, believe that artificial grass is more dangerous. Robin Bairner, writing for the website Goal, looked at the evidence for artificial grass being more dangerous and found it inconclusive.

He quoted a study from 2013 that found that footballers in Portugal had a greater rate of friction injuries on artificial grass, but this was contradicted by a study the same year in the USA concluding that footballers had a lower number of injuries on artificial turf.

The British Journal of Sports Medicine studied the Swedish Premier League in 2003-04 and found that there were no statistically significant differences between injury levels on grass or artificial turf.

A 2017 study for the Orthopaedic Journal of Sports medicine discovered that there were more injuries on artificial pitches that had not been looked after, compared to good condition ones.

Experts say that the key to preventing injuries by athletes either on real or artifice grass is to wear footwear that increases traction and prevents slipping.

Studies certainly suggest that fear of injury is no reason not to invest in artificial grass, and that people playing sports on artificial grass in North Wales will be safe provided they have the right clothing and the grass is well maintained.