Turf Cleats vs Turf
Shoes
Lately, I have been having some
issues with high school athletes and deciding whether or not they should use
turf cleats or turf shoes. I would like to discuss the pros and cons of each
and maybe shed some light on some of the injuries I have been seeing at my high
school.
The major difference between the two
seems to be stability and traction. The
turf cleats offer better traction but lack stability because they are raised
off the ground. The turf shoes offer better stability because they are not
raised but you get less traction. Neither shoe is bad nor good; it all depends
on the athlete wearing them. What I have found is athletes who lack ankle
stability should not be wearing cleats to begin with. They tend to get more
ankle injuries. For example, many of our younger athletes are suffering from
Severs Disease. Severs Disease, also known as Calcaneal Apophysitis, is a painful
foot condition that usually affects children between 9 and 15 years of age. The
tendon begins to pull the growth plate away from the bone. Since the younger
athletes have such poor stability, they tend to rely mostly on the calves for
all their stability. This causes your lower leg muscles to get over worked and pull
on the Achilles tendon which triggers pain in the heel.
I
have found that many of our older athletes (junior and seniors) have no
problems with wearing turf cleats. Their musculature is more developed in the
lower leg and foot so they are able to support themselves better when wearing
the cleats. The major issue many of the older athletes are experiencing are
shin problems. Most of it is due to the overuse of the posterior tibialis muscle.
This is mostly in part because of the lack of flexibility as well as poor
running mechanics. Part of the problem can also be attributed to the fact that
the cleats tend to force the foot into plantar flexion causing a shortness in
the calf muscles.
Turf Shoes
 |
Turf Cleats
 |
So
what can we do to prevent many of these issues?
Many
of these issues could be avoided with proper training of younger athletes.
First, we need to work on their flexibility. Rolling the plantar fascia and
calf muscles will help to increase flexibility in the ankle. Stretching their
big toe can help with the flexibility as well. Second, we need to do a better
job of training their stability. We need to assign more balance exercises. Some
exercises are single leg TRX squats, single leg RDL’s, single leg lateral
lunges on a bosu ball and indo board training, just to name a few. Third, we
need to do a better job of training the core stability and posterior chain of
the body. Too often programs focus on squatting and anterior dominant exercises
(not that those don’t help these issues). I know they are great at developing strength,
but at some point we need to worry about the health of our athlete and not only
big muscle development. Regression will help with progression. Many strength coaches
do not do a good job of working on these smaller muscles. Mostly because once
the season starts many of them do not see the athletes. I however, am on the
sidelines day in and day out. I get to see the cracks and holes in many trainers’
programs. This article is meant to help bring some of those cracks to the
light.
This
article is just the tip of the ice berg in a much deeper and long winded issue.
I just wanted to point out some of the issues I have seen from my perspective
of working with the young athletes. If you have any questions feel free to
email me at flofitness@gmail.com.
Comments
Post a Comment