Can football boots prevent injuries? The latest frontier of technology
How do we choose which model of football boots to buy? There are mainly two criteria, focusing on aesthetics and comfort, which in some cases even coincide. Many footballers are closely tied to the past, choosing not to "surrender" to new technologies, preferring boots that were released on the market ten or twenty years ago. This is a discussion that not only concerns those who play football at an amateur or amateur level. Toni Kroos has been playing with the Adidas 11pro Adipure model since 2014, to the extent that over the years, Adidas has adapted it to his requests: some purely aesthetic, such as adding the German flag on the heel, and others aimed at improving performance on the field, such as hybridization with the soleplate of the Adidas Copa Pure. This demonstrates that, despite major sportswear brands continuing to experiment with the best uppers—lightweight, breathable, with grip, or any other type of feature—some prioritize an emotional connection with a particular footwear.
Injuries
The model has, for the moment, been designed only for synthetic fields and has not yet yielded good results on natural grass. However, future prospects remain optimistic, especially because they could be an excellent resource for many other sports. At the University of Stirling, they have already conducted tests on amateur rugby players, who were able to perform some movements such as changing direction more agilely and quickly. In this case as well, however, it has not been possible to collect any data regarding the injury reduction capacity.
It is difficult to know whether Knox Chate's idea can one day become a reality and at the same time to judge the actual benefit of his project. If this sole plate is really useful in limiting injuries, even if it only reduces them to a small extent, it should be used to protect the health of athletes through technical innovation. At the same time, the football equipment market - like sports in general - is in full swing, releasing new types of tops, laces, special editions, reissues and more. This is exactly why he can pay more attention to an issue as important as injuries.
