I agree with spartakev2 and bodge about the new pitch type playing a part in the excessive amount of injuries. The pitch does not give when the leg gets a heavy impact because of the fibre in the grass root structure. previously a big divot would have come up when the planted leg was impacted but you rarely see that now as the boot stud technology combined with the pitch structure doesn't let the leg move and absorb some of the impact. Instead the nearest joint (more often the knee) takes the impact. I also think this plays a large part in Hamstring and groin injuries as the when a highly fit player with peak muscle structure tries to accelerate the push off foot has no rearward shock absorption as the pitch doesn't give at all. This leads to abnormal loads being taken by the hamstrings and groin structure. It would be very interesting to see the statistics from clubs that have a natural pitch. Not sure there are many left in the Prem but I think Southampton are one.

An interesting observation from the past is when we had loads of injuries in Dowie's early days as manager but then he brought in John Harbin as fitness coach we rarely had any injuries after that.

I am determined to live until I am as old as I look.

A lot of premier league teams have the same turf as us though so I don't think it's solely down to that. Most of our injuries have come from heavy tackles.