Sports flooring plays a critical role in any game. Whether playing tennis, basketball, or badminton, you want the best surface to help avoid injuries and enhance your play experience. Also, a quality floor ensures excellent ball bounce and improves your performance. For this reason, most people go for wooden sports flooring, and for a good reason.
The good thing about wooden flooring is that it’s aesthetically appealing. Also, it’s durable and easy to maintain, making it a cost-effective option for most sporting arenas, halls, and home gyms.
What are the qualities of the best sports flooring?
- Vertical Deformation
Vertical deformation refers to how the sporting surface deforms when stepped on and how this affects your foot stability. A sports floor with extreme deformation properties can cause rotational lower limb injuries. High deformation may also result in unsteady foot positioning, and low deformation leads to impact-related injuries due to insufficient give.
- Shock absorption
Shock absorption is one of the most important considerations when choosing sports flooring. It’s the flooring’s ability to reduce the force of impact exerted on it. Sporting surfaces with low force reduction may lead to joint injuries or stress fractures since they tend to be harder. Also, there’s an additional risk of severe impact injuries after a fall.
Similarly, surfaces with a high force reduction can minimize your likelihood of impact-related injuries but can result in muscle fatigue injuries. The best floor features excellent shock absorption properties.
- Surface traction
Surface traction is mainly confused with stability which describes how the surface bends under pressure. But surface traction has more to do with slip resistance and coefficient of friction. And this denotes the amount of friction that the surface offers.
Optimal traction is vital in sports, particularly in wooden, vinyl, and rubber flooring, where multi-directional movements are common. Such surfaces require great resistance to sliding than sporting courts.
- Energy restitution
Energy restitution is also referred to as an energy return and involves the mechanical properties of the playing surface and how it affects the bounce rate of the ball.
It’s calculated as per the ball’s bounce height to the surface versus the ball’s bounce height on concrete. The result is calculated as a percentage, and the value is used in many other sports using inflated balls.
Is wood the best choice for sports flooring?
There are different sports flooring options, but wood is favorite among many. It comes with many benefits and offers excellent shock absorption and traction. This helps avoid slips and injuries during sports. Also, wood is durable and easy to maintain, making it a cost-effective choice for most sporting halls and arenas.
Wood flooring looks appealing and will transform the look and feel of your play area or home gym. You can get wooden flooring in different colors and textures, making it easy to choose what matches your preferences.
In summary, there are various considerations to make when choosing sports flooring. Consider the mentioned factors, and buy your flooring from a reputed dealer. This way, you’ll enjoy a durable product and save a lot in the long run.
