Which soccer cleat design is most effective in preventing ankle injury?

Voiceover

Presenter Information(s)

Ava Maliska

Abstract or Description

Many people in the world love to play sports, but nobody likes to get hurt. Everyone at some point in their sports careers gets an injury. Especially ankle injuries. Ankle injuries are one of the most common injuries while playing sports, more specifically soccer. In this experiment, I tested which soccer cleat design was the best at preventing ankle injury. Three soccer cleats were tested in this experiment. A traditional cleat which has no support around the ankle. A hybrid cleat which has support around the ankle but not much and a sock style cleat which has support all the way up and around the ankle. My hypothesis was if soccer cleats with a sock-style design are more effective in preventing ankle injuries compared to traditional and hybrid cleats without a sock design than the additional support provided by the integrated sock will stabilize the ankle joint and reduce the risk of injuries during play because the ankle sock provides stability around the ankle. I put on each cleat and ran 10 yards up and down my yard. I would cut in the opposite direction sharply to see how the ankle and cleat reacted to the cut. After gathering the angle the ankle bent, my findings were that the sock style cleat provided the best stability around the ankle. I also found that the traditional and hybrid cleat provided about the same amount of stability around the ankle.