I guess it depends on which artificial surfaces and which study you look at.
I would more likely believe the Ortho doctor studies, and studies by the NFL, than college studies, but there are conflicting  studies out there, and of course, the makers of artificial turf like Field Turf will naturally cherry pick studies.

The American Journal of Sports Medicine has published studies that show that artificial turf is less dangerous for example. The Penn State Center for Sports Surface, which is highly regarded, has broken down the injuries suffered by artificial and natural surfaces. Only one study showed a difference in overall injuries out of the many they did, and that showed lower incidents in artificial turf. Every other study showed differing types of injuries, but it was a push overall.
The types of shoes worn on artificial turf makes a big difference too.

At any rate, artificial turf does make sense for places like Michigan etc., but not so much sense in Bakersfield. Places that have certain types of sod and fields that have a lot more chance of flooding will indicate an artificial surface. Places like Bakersfield which get plenty of sun and hardly and chance of flooding is a different story. It would seem to me that since there is so much sand piled up, they just take out 2 feet of the field and put in some good workable dirt and replant.

It seems a little strange to me that golf courses spread sand over their greens to actually help the oxygen get to the root, but it is having the opposite effect on BC's field. Maybe it isn't really an oxygen problem, it's just that there is so much sand nothing wants to grow. Personally I think BC's field was better than many of the other fields in Socal. I always thought that BC would be the last JC to go artificial.

The study I cherry picked was compiled over an eight year period and was done on NFL players in those games and leg injuries. I didn`t include other muscle trauma or joint injuries nor " turf toe " .............

They study included an eight year period of games and compiled the games in the NFL and reported the injuries to the lower extrimities that resulted from artificial surfaces and grass/sod in use in the NFL