A comparison of cleat types during two football-specific tasks on FieldTurf

To examine the effect of different cleat plate configurations on plantar pressure during two tasks.

Thirty-six athletes ran an agility course 5 times while wearing 4 different types of Nike Vitoria cleats: (1) bladed, (2) elliptical firm ground, (3) hard ground and (4) turf. Plantar pressure data were recorded during a side cut and a cross cut using Pedar-X insoles.

Controlled laboratory study

No history of lower extremity injury in the past 6 months, no previous foot or ankle surgery, not currently wearing foot orthotics and play a cleated sport at least twice a week.

Total foot contact time, contact area, maximum force, peak pressure and the force-time integral (FTI) in the medial, middle and lateral regions of the forefoot were collected. A 1x4 ANOVA (alpha = 0.05) was performed on each dependent variable. A Bonferroni adjustment was conducted (alpha = 0.008).

In the cross cut task, statistical differences between cleats were observed in three variables: total foot peak pressure, lateral forefoot FTI, and lateral forefoot normalised maximum force. In the side cut task, statistical differences between cleats were observed in 4 variables: total foot peak pressure, the medial and middle forefoot FTI, and the medial and middle forefoot normalised maximum force.

Significant differences in forefoot loading patterns existed between cleat types. Based on the results of this study, it might be beneficial to increase the forefoot cushioning in cleats in an attempt to decrease loading in these regions of the foot.