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Exerflex Flooring
Performance - What are the DIN Standards?
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DIN Standards were developed in Germany and are recognized worldwide as the best method
for evaluating sports floors. The standards were developed to ensure that aerobic
athletes received the greatest degree of safety and performance from a flooring surface
when participating in aerobic exercise. Dr. Peter Francis, a member of the Board of
Advisors for IDEA and a researcher in the field of exercise safety at San Diego State
University advises, "the German DIN Standards are the only known criteria for safe
aerobic floors." Exerflex was the first aerobic flooring company to
introduce the DIN Standards to the United States. Now virtually every sports
flooring provider evaluates their flooring using the DIN Standards. |
For
more information about the DIN Standards, visit the DIN home page on the web at their
website. |
Certification Test Results
for DIN Standard 18032 Part II
Test results as reported by Otto Graff Institut, Stuttgart, Germany
| Floor
Test |
DIN
Standard |
Exerflex
Floor |
Meets/Exceeds |
Explanation |
| Shock Absorption |
Minimum 53% |
63.7% |
X |
Insufficient shock absorption causes activity
related injuries to ankle and knee joints. Correct shock absorption reduces fatigue
and significantly lowers the risk of injury. |
| Resilience |
Minimum 2.3mm |
2.3mm |
X |
Inadequate energy return in a floor causes sore
ankles and a surface too "hard" for safe, strenuous activity. Excessive
energy return creates a trampoline effect and potential for injury. |
| Surface Friction |
Minimum 0.5
Maximum 0.7 |
0.5 |
X |
Rotating and pivoting motions create strain on
joints without the proper friction coefficients to minimize stress. On a friction
scale of .1 (ice) to .9 (fly paper), .5-.7 is the DIN Standard. At .5, Exerflex is
perfect, even providing for the demands of platform and other high impact routines. |
| Impact Isolation |
W500
Maximum 15% |
W500
13.2% |
X |
Without proper impact isolation, participants'
movements can interfere with each other, creating the possibility of injury. The
standard allows for 15% deflection, 20" from the point of impact. Exerflex
exceeds that by providing over 86% isolation at 20". |
| Surface Stability |
Minimum 1500N |
1500N |
X |
Proper foot stability is essential to reducing foot
roll-over and other injuries to participants. This is a fundamental advantage of the
Exerflex floor system compared to carpeted or vinyl aerobic surfaces. |
As virtually every flooring manufacturer has test results, you should
compare their results with the figures above.
© 2009, Fitness Flooring,
Inc., All Rights Reserved.
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