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A new research by Scottish experts has warned that soccer star who choose to wear football boots with bladed cleats could be putting themselves at greater risk of injury. The study by researchers at Dundee University suggested that the traditional stud was safer in a series of tests involving amateur players. The traditional stud helps to distribute the pressure being placed on a footballer's feet while the cleats increase the loading on the front of the foot where soccer stars are prone to metatarsal injuries, according to the study. Professor Rami Abboud, of the university's Institute of Motion Analysis and Research, said the study of the differing pressures placed on the foot found that bladed boots were 'relatively more harmful' due to the unnatural increased loading under the lateral half of the foot. "The additional pressures placed on that area of the foot predispose it to injury," the Scotsman quoted him as saying. "Our study showed that studded boots can be considered safer, as the pressure distribution across the foot and the pattern of pressure progression mimicked the normal motif, whereas the same was not true of bladed boots," he added. The study was based on a series of tests conducted with 29 players from amateur football teams who were recruited to try out the different styles of boot. They were asked to perform three trials, each of two activities - a straight run and a run cutting at a 60 degree angle on artificial turf. The research team measured the pressure placed on the feet in both types of run. The boots worn were of the same design, only with different cleat patterns - one studded and one bladed. "Our research only looked at two boots from one manufacturer, but it does offer support for the anecdotal claims made by many professional footballers that the bladed boots may be responsible for more injuries," Abboud said. "I would suggest this would be particularly true of lateral metatarsal injuries, given the pressures placed on that area of the foot," Abboud added. The research has been published in the latest edition of the journal Foot and Ankle Surgery.

Bladed boots 'put footballers at higher injury risk'