The Truth About ACL Injuries and Cleats
- Joseph Caligiuri
- 21 hours ago
- 4 min read
ACL Injury Prevention Starts at the Ground
I tore my ACL in 1996.
First varsity basketball practice of my junior year.
No contact. No collision. Just a hard plant… and a foot that didn’t release.
My knee did.
That was thirty years ago. That moment led me into this profession. It pushed me to study force production, deceleration, tissue tolerance, and the interaction between the body and the ground.
That path took me to BC.
To the Patriots.
To the Kings.
To MLB.
And now here, where I've worked with the Boston Breakers, Boston Cannons, and 4,250 other athletes.
ACL injury prevention has not been a phase for me. It has been a 30-year obsession.
And one of the most overlooked risk factors? Cleats.
There’s death.
There are taxes.
And there’s my opinion on cleats.
You can train strength.
You can coach mechanics.
You can improve deceleration.
But if the shoe refuses to release, the knee becomes the release mechanism.
Here’s your Joe-ism:
If the cleat wins the battle with the turf, the ACL loses the war.
The Real Issue Is Not “Grip.” It’s Torque.
Parents hear words like:
Traction
Explosiveness
Stability
Coaches love “good bite.” Here’s the problem. ACL injuries are rarely about effort. They’re about rotational torque.
When your child cuts, plants, pivots, or decelerates, force transfers:
Ground → Shoe → Foot → Tibia → Knee
If the shoe releases at the right moment, torque dissipates. If the shoe locks into the surface? The knee absorbs it. And the ACL becomes the weak link. This isn’t dramatic language. It’s basic mechanics.
What the Research Actually Measured
A 2016 study by Mansfield and Bucinell measured the maximum rotational torque between cleat types and playing surfaces using a controlled axial-torsion load frame.
They tested four shoe types:
Round studded cleats
Turf shoes
Bladed studded cleats
Soft ground cleats
Across five playing surfaces including natural grass and multiple artificial turf systems.
They didn’t ask opinions. They measured maximum torque before the shoe released.
Torque Increased In This Order (Shoe Type):
Round Studded
Turf Shoes
Bladed Studded
Soft Grounds
Bladed and soft ground cleats consistently produced higher rotational torque values.
Higher torque = higher stress transmitted to the knee.
Now let’s talk about surfaces.
Torque Increased In This Order (Surface Type):
Gym Turf
Old Turf
Grass
New Turf (1.5” infill)
New Turf (1.0” infill — highest torque)
Artificial turf — especially newer, tighter systems — did not.
That matters.
Why This Matters for Your Child
Most ACL injuries are non-contact.
They occur during:
Deceleration
Cutting
Change of direction
Landing under speed
At Stadium Performance, my athletes train to exceed those demands safely.
We build:
Relative strength
Eccentric control
Deceleration capacity
Force tolerance
Rotational stability
But here’s the truth:
Even my athletes are not stronger than physics. If the shoe-surface interaction creates torque beyond tissue tolerance, the ACL becomes the release point. And ligaments are terrible shock absorbers.
Bladed Cleats: The Illusion of Performance
Bladed studs increase surface contact area. More contact = more traction. More traction = more torque. More torque = more rotational stress at the knee.
Soft ground cleats penetrate deeper into the surface. Deeper penetration = delayed release. Delayed release = higher peak torque.
Round studs allow rotational slip sooner. Slip is not weakness. Slip is protective. In ACL injury prevention, controlled release is intelligent design.
Artificial Turf Is a Different Animal
Grass deforms.
Artificial turf fibers do not tear or give easily. Newer turf systems with lower infill depths produced the highest torque values in the study .
That means:
You may not be able to control the field. But you absolutely control what your child wears.
Coaches: Availability Is a Performance Metric
You want speed.
You want aggression.
You want confidence cutting.
You should also want rotational release.
Encouraging maximum traction without understanding torque thresholds is ignoring one of the most controllable variables in ACL injury prevention.
Strength matters.
Mechanics matter.
Footwear matters too.
Parents: This Is a Variable You Control
You cannot control:
The opponent
The referee
The tournament schedule
The field installation
You can control cleat selection. And cleat selection influences torque exposure. Your child’s ACL does not care about brand loyalty. It cares about rotational load.
2026 SP Approved Spring Cleats
I’ve curated my 2026 SP Approved Spring Cleats here:
These are selected based on:
Stud geometry
Release characteristics
Surface compatibility
Long-term ACL risk management
This isn’t about aesthetics.
It’s about torque management.
If your child trains within our ACL injury prevention system at Stadium Performance, their footwear should align with it.
Glossary: Words I Probably Shouldn’t Assume You Know
1. ACL (Anterior Cruciate Ligament): A key stabilizing ligament in the knee that resists forward and rotational movement.
2. Rotational Torque: Twisting force applied to a joint.
3. Traction: Grip between a shoe and playing surface.
4. Release Threshold: The torque level at which a cleat slips instead of continuing to twist.
5. Infill: Rubber material placed between turf fibers to provide cushion and traction.
6. Surface Deformation: The ability of grass or turf to compress or break under load.
7. Relative Strength: Strength relative to bodyweight.
8. Eccentric Control: Muscle control while lengthening under load (like lowering from a jump).
9. Tissue Tolerance: The amount of force ligaments and tendons can handle before injury risk increases.
10. Force Capacity: The maximum force an athlete can produce and safely absorb.
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