SPORTS FLOORING
Safe, comfortable landings
“The comfort levels in sports flooring is often overlooked,” says Peter Daly as he summarises recent flooring research undertaken by the University of Poitiers in France
ufacturers we are usually asked the standard questions: “How durable is the flooring? Does it stand up to tables and chairs? What’s the bounce like and what maintenance is needed?” While all of these are important, often the key issue of safety and protection is not the first question that comes to the buyer’s mind in the decision making process. How- ever, this is understandable, when you consider the fact that the vast majority of people involved in choosing a sports floor will only do so perhaps once in a building’s 25-year lifetime. While one can, and should, refer to
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biomechanical or injury prevention studies that already exist, it is also the responsibility of the sports flooring in- dustry to educate potential buyers and assist them in making the best possible choice for the floor users.
hen an educational estab- lishment or a local authority draws up plans to build a sports hall, as floor man-
The profile of these users, and indeed
all facility users, needs to be clarified in order to make the right flooring decision. Ultimately, the ideal sports floor should be one that best accommodates and protects players from short- and long-term injury.
Sports flooring research Regarding safety, the ‘Berlin Athlete’ apparatus is used to measure force re- duction – commonly referred to as shock absorption. The sports flooring industry frequently refers to this piece of appara- tus, as it simulates the forces exerted on a sports floor by a national level sprinter, weighing approximately 11 stone. Sports floors can be classified accord-
ing to the force reduction properties of the floor, but the bigger question is whether a national level athlete is actu- ally representative of the average profile of the people who regularly play sport in a particular sports hall? In 1996 Müller and Denoth (Biome- chanics, ETH of Zurich) presented their
Engineers at the University of Poitiers developed a spherical impactor, filled with sensors to enable researchers to measure the comfort of sports floors
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findings on sports floors and force re- duction. The study differentiated the force reduction qualities of sports floors and asked whether wood (area elastic) or synthetic (point elastic) was the best material. The study’s objective was firstly, to show in what situations a sports hall floor can, and should, undertake a pro- tective function and secondly, to contrast the mechanical properties of wooden and synthetic floors – particularly in re- gards to adult and children. The protective function of a sports-
hall floor is the basic requirement of any sports surface. However, the effects of the upward forces a body incurs depends on the duration of play and the physical structure of the person. The mechanical properties of area
elastic floors (typically wooden sprung floors) and point elastic floors (usually cushion-backed synthetic floors) also differ greatly. Given the differences in size and weight between adults and children, impact velocities are obviously varied. So consequently, the force of the impact is not always absorbed by an area elastic and a point elastic floor as it will react in a similar manner to children and adults – whether the force of impact is high or low.
Issue 2 2011 © cybertrek 2011
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