The aim of this study was to compare the protective effectiveness of polypropylene based shin guards with custom-made carbon fiber ones.
In football, injuries from opponent contact occur commonly in the lower extremities. FIFA the world’s governing body for football requires players to wear shin guards.
Three commercial polypropylene soccer shin guards and two custom-made carbon fiber shin guards were examined. The experimental setup had the following parts: 1) A pendulum attached a load cell at the tip and a fixed prosthetic foot equipped with a cleat to simulate an attacker’s foot. 2) An artificial tibia prepared by condensed foam and reinforced by carbon fibers protected with soft clothing. 3) A multifunctional sensor system (Tekscan Corp., F-Socket System, Turkey) to record the impact on the tibia. In the low impact force trials, only 2.79-9.63 % of the load was transmitted to the sensors.
When comparing for mean force, peak force and impulse, both carbon fiber shin guards performed better than the commercial ones. For peak force and impulse, the carbon fiber shin guards provided better protection than all the others. Carbon fiber shin guards possess protective qualities superior to those of commercial polypropylene shin guards.
