The Science Behind Shock Absorption in Athletic Flooring

As we know, athletic flooring is one of the most important parts of any sports facility. And any athletic floor would not be considered an athletic floor without some level of shock absorption. Whether the relevant factor is ball bounce or player fatigue or a combination of the two, shock absorption plays a key role in determining the right type of flooring. Science has come a long way in this industry to help develop various techniques for the application of shock absorption in athletic flooring to accommodate a wide range of needs in the industry.

Why Shock Absorbing Sports Floors Are Important?

1. Injury Prevention

What the science behind shock absorption has shown is that the most important thing that it does for athletic flooring is reduce player fatigue and injury. It lowers the risk of acute injuries and also helps prevent long term injuries caused by repetitive stress. Both in the short term, and the long term, the priority of sports flooring is to reduce fatigue and the risk of injury for athletes on their floors.

2. Performance Enhancement

In addition to being a safer floor, a floor that has shock absorption and that is properly distributed throughout the floor, provides a performance enhancing quality for anyone who plays on it. Luckily, there are standards to make sure that floors are uniform in play, but maintenance and upkeep as well as the selection of which type of floor will determine how well your floor performs over time.

3. Comfort and Safety

Just as important as safety and performance is comfort – players wants to enjoy the floor that they are playing on. Luckily, shock absorption has provided a better feeling in almost every case. Whether the floor is incredibly soft or only has a limited amount of resilience, you can feel the difference walking on an athletic for as compared to most floors that you have in most hallways or classrooms or other office settings.

4. Versatility

The great thing about athletic flooring is that it can be made to tailor a wide range of sports and physical activities. There are floors available that allow for a wide range of performance and ensure that both high impact and low impact sports can be accommodated. Flooring professional will be able to give you a wide range of choices to suit your needs even if they are also wide-ranging.

How Shock Absorption Works in Athletic Flooring?

Energy Distribution

It is very important for any athletic floor to disperse the amount of energy that is transferred to it by either a player or a ball. Distributing energy is the foundation of shock absorption. There are many different materials that can achieve this objective, but it is important to use a professional flooring installer with the use of high quality materials to ensure that the energy distribution is done properly and uniformly.

Material Composition

There are a number of materials that exist in the world of shock absorption. Depending on your floors use and structural design, a flooring professional will recommend the proper materials to achieve the level of shock absorption that is called for. The most common types of materials are rubber or foam, but there are many other types that, while less frequently used, can be employed to achieve a specific result.

Structural Design

The structural design of any floor is a crucial component in determining not just shock absorption and energy distribution but overall performance and resilience. The design of the floor must be considered in concert with the type of shock absorption materials and composition. When designing any type of athletic floor, all three factors must be considered as a group. Using the highest quality materials means that both the installer and the client have access to data from tests that were performed on these floors. It is important to make sure that the materials that are used in an athletic floor have been tested for that purpose. It is also important to make sure that the structural design matches the design intent of the athletic flooring system itself.

Different Materials Used for Shock Absorbing Sports Floors

Rubber

Rubber can be used as both an independent shock absorbing pad as well as the flooring itself. Depending on the needs of the facility, rubber flooring can work perfectly on its own. In other cases, rubber is employed as part of a shock absorbing system.

Foam

Foam is one of the most common types of shock absorbing materials. The most important thing about the foam is its density and thickness. Much like any other type of a shock absorbing system it’s important to use materials that are tested to make sure that they are up sufficient quality.

Vinyl

Vinyl flooring often comes with some measure of shock absorption whether it is attached or applied separately. Depending on the use of the floor and the intended look of the floor, often vinyl is a great solution.

Wood

Wood flooring is the most traditional material for gym floors because it has natural shock absorbing tendencies. When applied with a proper subfloor and some other shock absorbing material, hardwood floors can be an incredibly shock absorbing and resilient floor.

Synthetic

Synthetic has proven to be remarkably resilient and shock absorbing, especially as technology in this sector has evolved over the past 15 years. Now, there is a wide range of high quality synthetic flooring that can be applied to just about any floor for a wide range of athletic uses. Every one of them contains a certain degree of resilience and shock absorption, depending on the need and use of the floor.

Ensure Your Next Athletic Flooring Has Shock Absorption With Endurance Flooring

Shock absorption is a critical quality in all athletic floors. Resilience in sports flooring is critical for the players short term and long term health benefits period it is critical for athletes to have consistent surfaces on which to play, which both performs in enhance his performance and extends longevity. Endurance flooring is intimately familiar with the science behind shock absorption. Our senior team has decades of experience in performance flooring. We use nothing but the best materials, all of which come with independent third party testing to verify the performance of the floor. In order to achieve the best results, you need the highest quality materials and the most professional installers, of which Endurance has both. There are both long term and short term reasons to use the best in the industry – financial, health, performance, and longevity are all benefits. Reach out to endurance today to discuss why shock absorption is important and how it can be used to achieve the results you want.