Is natural turf a risk factor in football?

Rennie and co-workers in a review article in this month's sports injury section examine the age old sports injury question as to whether pitch hardness is an extrinsic risk factor for injury in English Association Football. Given the possibility of greater difficulty associated with maintaining quality pitches with increased periods of low natural rainfall in many areas this is an important question that will need further research to provide definitive answers. In the other articles in the sports injury section Davidson and McLean take an in depth look at the geometry of the ACL and how it changes with maturation using MRI scanning. Staying in the region of the ACL, Koutras and colleagues report differences in the knee flexion strength of individuals who have received hamstrings grafts when measured in prone as compared to the conventional seated position.