Understanding traction for sports shoe and surface combinations

随着肥胖程度的增加和相关的健康问题，正在积极促进全民运动，从而增加了对提供体育设施的需求。实现这一目标的一种方法是增加安全、高质量的运动场地。各国政府以及国家和国际体育管理机构最近采取的举措，增加了用于安装运动场地的资金。在英国，许多新的运动场地都是人造的。与天然运动场地（如草地或煤渣）相比，其优势包括减少天气条件的影响，更低的维护水平，以及更大的对多种运动使用的容忍度。然而，与天然表面相比，人造表面上运动和运动的增加导致了运动和运动相关伤害的增加。要使运动成为改善国民健康的一项成功战略，重要的是提供高质量、安全的运动场地。该项目采用多学科方法，结合机械和生物力学技术，提高对鞋面相互作用的理解。该项目旨在提高运动表面的质量和安全性，通过更好地理解在合成运动表面上进行运动时与鞋面牵引力相关的因素，特别关注网球和各种运动使用的多种运动表面。鞋与地面之间的牵引力水平是影响受伤发生和球员表现的最常见因素。例如，需要医疗的伤害中有很大一部分是由于牵引力低而导致无法控制的滑倒。此外，踝关节内翻损伤和前交叉韧带（ACL）撕裂与鞋与鞋面之间的高度牵引力有关。需要足够的线性和旋转牵引力来允许停止和转弯运动，但极端的牵引力可能会增加身体上的负荷到无法忍受的水平。除了高水平的牵引力会增加受伤风险外，意想不到的牵引力也很可能是危险的。在合理的范围内，如果期望高牵引力，参与者可能会调整他们的运动模式以保持负荷在可容忍的水平。然而，如果表面不够均匀，那么参与者可能无法充分适应，受伤风险将增加。为了确保运动员的安全，从而鼓励继续安全地参与运动，需要增加对人造表面对人体生物力学影响的理解。计划中的项目将解决运动和锻炼中与牵引力相关的伤害问题，通过考虑在运动应用中施加载荷下影响其平移和旋转牵引力行为的鞋子和表面的特定特性。为实现这一目标，将采用多学科方法。将开发机械测试方法来描述球场表面，使用生物力学数据来提供边界条件。工程方法将用于确定影响牵引行为的具体材料特性。人体测试将用于验证机械测试的结果，并调查人体生物力学和感知以及网球表面和鞋类材料特性之间的关系。除了提高对球员鞋组合和运动表面之间物理相互作用的理解，这项工作有可能导致改进表面的标准测试程序，这既是确保高水平性能和舒适度（鼓励参与）的组成部分，也是减少受伤的可能性。

With increased levels of obesity and the associated health concerns, exercise is being actively promoted across the population, resulting in an increased requirement for provision of sports facilities. One approach to this provision is through increased access to safe, high quality sports surfaces. Recent initiatives by governments as well as national and international sports governing bodies have led to increased funds being available for sports surfaces to be installed. In the UK, many of the new sports surfaces are synthetic. Advantages over natural sports surfaces, such as grass or cinder, include a reduced impact of weather conditions, lower levels of maintenance, and greater tolerance of multi-sport use. However, an increase in exercise and sport on artificial surfaces, as opposed to natural surfaces, has been suggested to have resulted in an increase in sport and exercise related injuries. For exercise to be a successful strategy for improving the health of the nation, it is important that quality, safe sports surfaces are provided. The proposed project takes a multidisciplinary approach to improving understanding of shoe-surface interaction, combining mechanical and biomechanical techniques. The project aims to improve the quality and safety of sports surfaces through an improved understanding of the factors associated with shoe-surface traction when performing on synthetic playing surfaces, with a specific focus on surfaces used in tennis and multi-sports surfaces utilised by a range of sports.The level of traction between the shoe and surface is the most frequently cited factor influencing injury occurrence and player performance. For example, a high percentage of injuries requiring medical treatment have been attributed to uncontrolled slipping as a result of low traction. In addition, ankle inversion injuries and anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears have been associated with a high level of traction between the shoe and the surface. An adequate amount of linear and rotational traction is required to allow stopping and turning movements, but extreme levels of traction may increase the loads on the body to intolerable levels. In addition to high levels of traction increasing injury risk, it is likely that unexpected levels of traction are dangerous. Within reason, if high traction is expected, the participant is likely to adapt their movement pattern to maintain loads at a tolerable level. However, if surfaces are not sufficiently uniform, then the participant may not adapt adequately and injury risk will be increased. To ensure player safety and thus encourage continued safe participation in exercise, increased understanding of the influence of artificial surfaces on human biomechanics is required. The planned project will address the problem of traction-related injuries in sport and exercise by considering the specific characteristics of shoes and surfaces that influence their translational and rotational traction behaviour under loads applied during sporting applications. To achieve this aim, a multidisciplinary approach will be used. Mechanical test methods will be developed to characterise playing surfaces, using biomechanical data to provide boundary conditions. Engineering approaches will be used to determine specific material characteristics influential on traction behaviour. Human testing will be used to validate the results of mechanical tests and to investigate relationships between human biomechanics and perception and the material properties of tennis surfaces and footwear. As well as improving understanding of the physical interaction between player-shoe combinations and sports surfaces, this work has the potential to lead to improving standard test procedures for surfaces, both integral to ensuring a high level of performance and comfort (to encourage participation), and reducing the likelihood of injury.