Artificial turf, known in its early days as "Astroturf" due to the first-of-its-kind installation in the Houston Astros baseball stadium, has been both a blessing and a curse since its inception. It provides a consistent playing surface for both indoor and outdoor play, but athlete injuries like "turf toe" gave the surface a bad name. Specialized shoes, called "turf shoes," and continued development of the materials have combined to enhance safety and performance.
Basics
Athletic shoes designed for grass often use metal cleats to help the athlete dig in to the surface. These shoes would rip an artificial surface to shreds in pretty short order, so as more and more stadiums made the switch to artificial turf, shoe companies responded by designing specialized footwear. Not all artificial surfaces are the same, however, especially with the advances in design. Some turf shoes have barely perceptible nubs along the sole to aid in traction, while others have larger, rounded bumps to give purchase on newer, deeper surfaces.
Turf Toe
An early complaint about artificial turf in general, and the shoes used to play on it in particular, was that they actually gave a runner too much traction. Turf toe is a common injury that results from too much grip. When the athlete is moving forward and the shoe digs in and sticks to the artificial surface, it can cause sudden and extreme stress on the ligaments under the big toe. The injury is painful, and recovery can be long and difficult as athletes who rely on speed and quick changes in direction depend so much on the big toe for balance. Newer models of turf shoes account for this problem by using more pliable materials that are less likely to "trap" the big toe.
Performance
Switching from shoes designed for grass to flat-soled athletic shoes for play on turf puts the player at a disadvantage against those who are wearing specially designed turf shoes. The first step in most sports is critically important, and turf shoes grant more power and grip to the athlete whether he's making a split-second decision in the outfield or lunging off the line of scrimmage in football.
Shoe-surface Interface
In a study conducted by R.J. Heidt, Jr., et al, different types of athletic shoes were tested on different surfaces to measure differences in friction and rotational stress on the ankle. While standard shoes used on grass and turf tested equally, turf shoes showed less rotational stress than did cleats when each shoe type was tested on artificial turf. The conclusion of the researches was that shoes specially designed for the playing surface decreased the stresses on the ankle that could cause injury.
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