How Athletes Can Prevent and Manage Common Eye Injuries
How Can Athletes Prevent Common Eye Injuries?
Healthy vision is crucial for athletic performance, from navigating and processing your environment to executing visual skills like depth perception and hand-eye coordination.
But how can you avoid eye injuries as an athlete? Protect your eyes with our top tips!
Wearing protective eye gear is one of the best ways to prevent common eye injuries
Research published in the Journal of Craniofacial Surgery found that ocular injuries frequently occur in sports, with basketball, football and softball reporting the highest prevalence of eye injuries.
While the level of risk for eye injury varies from sport to sport, all athletes should be aware of the common injuries they may encounter during games and training sessions.
Learning how to prevent and manage injuries can help you preserve your vision and continue to perform at a high level, supporting your overall health and well-being.
Common Eye Injuries in Sports
The Journal of Craniofacial Surgery found that corneal scratches and abrasions were identified as the most common eye injuries in sports.
The cornea is the outer surface of the eye, so abrasions can be caused by debris getting in the eye during outdoor games like baseball, or by finger-eye contact during close-impact sports like basketball.
When the eye or brow suffers a sudden forceful impact from flying objects or direct contact with opponents, it can result in blunt eye trauma or a black eye.
Flying debris and sporting gear can also penetrate the eye, with the severity and risk of vision loss depending on the depth and location of the penetration.
Lastly, outdoor sports like swimming, surfing and skiing can expose athletes to ultraviolet rays bouncing off the reflective surfaces of water or snow, which can contribute to photokeratitis or sunburned eyes.
The good news is that corneal abrasions, blunt eye trauma, penetrating injuries and radiation injuries can all be prevented by a few simple eye care tips. Let’s take a closer look…
Strategies to Prevent and Manage Eye Injuries
Use Protective Eyewear
The American Academy of Ophthalmology reports that about 90% of serious eye injuries are preventable with protective eyewear.
As such, athletes in sports like basketball, baseball, softball and racquetball must wear appropriate sports eyewear to prevent eye injuries caused by high-speed flying objects and close contact with gear or competitive opponents.
Protective sports glasses are typically made of shatter-proof polycarbonate lenses to reduce the risk of corneal abrasions and penetrating eye injuries.
Read more training and recovery tips on our fitness blog
Invest in Sun Protection
Sports like flying disc and surfing have minimal contact with other players, but the outdoor nature of the activity means players must invest in sun protection to minimise UV exposure.
This entails wearing sunglasses with 100% UV protection to reduce the risk of radiation-related eye injuries, such as photokeratitis.
Fortunately, even athletes with vision impairment like myopia can opt for prescription sunglasses so they don’t have to choose between visual acuity and sun protection.
Eyewear brand Ray-Ban offers prescription options for a wide range of sport-friendly sunglasses, from the Original Wayfarer with lightweight frames for freedom of movement to the Erika frames with tinted lenses for improved clarity and contrast.
Wear Face Shields or Helmets
Athletes playing contact sports like boxing, martial arts, ice hockey, lacrosse and American football are advised to wear a helmet or a face mask with a polycarbonate shield to adequately protect their eye globe from blunt impact and trauma.
American football is a contact sport - wearing a helmet and face shield can protect the eye against damage
For example, the sports helmets by sporting gear company Riddell are specially designed to improve impact response for football players through their interior padding and proprietary 3D-printed Tru-Fit protective technology.
You should also ensure your helmet or face mask is approved by an official sports organisation, such as the Hockey Equipment Certification Council.
How Can Athletes Prevent and Manage Common Eye Injuries?
If you’re an athlete, it’s important to take steps to protect your eyes. You may want to wear protective eyewear or choose the right helmet or face shield for your sport.
Similar to eye injuries, tendon injuries like an Achilles heel tear are also common in high-intensity sports like football and basketball.
Wear the right protective gear to optimise your performance - and effectively rest and recover after exercise to reduce the risk of common injuries and promote long-term fitness.
