Whether you are a
fan observing a hockey game or a participant on the ice playing hockey, you
have an appreciation for the fact that eye injury is a serious risk among
hockey players. Avoiding hockey eye injuries requires taking precautions on the
part of players, coaches and parents.
Research on Hockey Eye Injury
An interesting
and helpful research paper was presented at the
Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
The researchers found that wearing visors could cause a four-fold decrease in the
risk of eye injuries. The researchers,
based at the University of Toronto and Harvard Medical School, examined data
from The Sports Network (TSN) and The Hockey News annual visor survey over the
last 10 NHL seasons from 2002 to 2013. The
data clearly demonstrated that the risk of eye injury is 4.23 times higher for
players who do not wear a visor.
The study also found that the majority of eye injuries are
caused by being hit by the puck (37%) or struck by a high stick (28%) or by a
fight or scrum (18%), while the researchers could not identify the cause of
injury for 17%. Interesting players
without visors had a more aggressive style of play, measured by penalty
minutes, hits and fights in a case-control study. There was also a weak,
but positive correlation between eye injuries and penalty minutes.
As hockey players develop and get stronger their games and
playing style become faster and more intense, and the risks continue to
increase-thus it is important to maximize protection. Since the majority of
hockey injuries are accidental in nature, it is not good enough for players to
try to be more cautious. This study strongly supports the common sense notion
that wearing visors goes a long way to decreasing injuries among hockey
players.
If you or
someone you know plays hockey please share this information with them to help
them decrease their risk of hockey eye injury, or please feel free to call
Center for Sight with questions at 508-730-2020, visit Center for Sight or www.facebook.com/centerforsightfallriver.
