Shoe-surface traction differences under NFL-relevant loads for natural, hybrid, and synthetic grass and turf; a scalable approach for in-situ testing.

Engineering of Sport 15 - Proceedings from the 15th International Conference on the Engineering of Sport (ISEA 2024)

Shoe-surface interactions govern the forces and torques sustained by athletes during highly energetic maneuvers and can affect performance and injury risk. Athlete performance generally increases with increasing surface available traction up to a saturation point above which available surface traction exceeds what an athlete can utilize. Athlete risk of lower extremity injuries has also been associated with increasing surface available traction presumably related to excessive loads during highly energetic maneuvers. Although there are many available surface testing devices, the structural characterization of shoe-surface interactions under NFL-relevant, highly energetic boundary conditions remains a challenge outside of a laboratory setting. Thus, the goal of this research is to characterize the available traction loads across a selection of natural, hybrid, and synthetic sport surfaces in situ under NFL-relevant loading conditions using a mobile surface traction tester.