Sports safety is the most important part of playing a sport, no matter what activity you choose. Without the proper safety precautions, athletes can risk their health due to sports-related injuries. Eye injuries are common casualties experienced by athletes of all ages. Taking the proper safety measures can keep you eyes and vision safe from harm.
Statistics
Sports-related eye injuries are most common in middle-school aged children, according to the National Eye Institute, but more than 100,000 people of all ages in the U.S. suffer from athletic-related eye injuries every year. Some of the injuries are the effects of inadequate sports safety, in other words, not wearing the appropriate protective gear, but other injuries are just accidents. Eye injuries can be particularly risky because they can threaten your vision. Prevent Blindness America estimates that as many as 90 percent of all sports-related eye injuries can be prevented.
High-Risk Sports
Baseball and basketball top the list of sports in which the players sustain eye injuries, according to the Illinois Eye and Ear Infirmary. Water sports, including swimming, water skiing and surfing and racquet sports, are also high-risk sports in terms of eye injuries. This is not to say that athletes in other areas don't experience eye injuries; any sport can potentially cause an eye injury, particularly if safety precautions are not employed.
Types of Injuries
The three main types of sports-related eye injuries are blunt contusions, corneal abrasions and penetration of the eye by a foreign object. A blunt contusion is a situation in which you're hit in the face, or the eye -- by a ball, another piece of equipment or a person. A contusion can cause bleeding in and around the eye, and varies in severity. A corneal abrasion is a scratch of the cornea, the clear lens of the eye. You might suffer from a corneal abrasion if an opponent in a game accidentally hits you in the face in the height of play. Penetration of a foreign object in the eye is a sports-related eye injury that can become quite serious, leading to nerve damage and loss of sight. The Illinois Eye and Ear Infirmary explains that playing with BB guns is a common cause of this form of eye injury.
Prevention
Wearing protective eyewear is the key to preventing sports-related eye injuries. Players of racquet sports should choose polycarbonate goggles or glasses that include side shields to avoid blows to the eye from the sides of your head. Baseball, football and hockey players can enforce sports safety through the use of hard helmet; a polycarbonate shield can further protect you from eye injuries. The University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center explains that boxing, a sport in which eye injuries are very common, does not have similar safety standards to prevent eye injuries, but amateur boxers may be able to reduce their risks by using gloves that don't have separate thumbs.
Another sports safety guideline to heed is to clear your play space of all objects that can easily break or injury the players, and give your fellow athletes plenty of space in which to play. For example, a ball that breaks a window can easily spray shattered glass around a basketball court, and a shard of glass could embed in a player's unprotected eye. But playing in a more open area, away from windows can be a solution, in addition to wearing protective eyewear.
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