Baseball and Eye Injuries
I personally enjoy baseball very much, but professionally, I hate the ocular injuries I treat as the result of a careless neglect of ocular safety.
A good little league pitcher can hurl the baseball up to 70 mph. Imagine getting struck in the side of the face with a hard ball traveling at that speed. It can do some serious damage to the bones around the eye, and can cause severe ocular damage. Even a misjudged pop fly can strike the face with enough force to cause blindness. Abrasions of the cornea, intraocular hemorrhages, even a rupture of the eye itself -- I have seen them all as a result of baseball related injuries.
How can we try, as responsible parents, to reduce the incidence of eye injuries as we enjoy America's favorite pastime?
· Be certain that your child knows how to catch a ball properly. The use of wiffle balls, tennis balls or a soft training baseball is best when teaching young children the techniques of fielding. Once a child can confidently catch a safety ball, than it is appropriate to introduce them to a T-ball or regular baseball. The child may feel more confident wearing a batting helmet, with a cage, while learning to field.
· A batting helmet is required when at bat. However, Little League regulations do not require a cage on this helmet. A cage is a good idea since it minimally interferes with hitting, but absolutely protects the face from injury due to a wild pitch. I purchased a helmet with a cage that my children wear at bat, and have found that many of their teammates also feel more comfortable wearing it at the plate.
· Designate a warm-up area strictly for the batter on deck. It really surprises me, the number of times a child has been hit in the head with a baseball bat by another player who was taking practice swings before their turn at bat. These injuries tend to be the most serious, for obvious reasons.
· Teach your child to shield their face with their forearm as they slide into a base. I have seen one child kicked in the eye while stealing a base, and to add insult to injury, he also had sand in his eye!
Little League Baseball is a great sport. Fortunately, with the help of thousands of dedicated Little League coaches who know the rules of safe play, the number of injuries are kept at a minimum. However, as parents, we should always watch for those occasional instances where safety might be overlooked, and a child may be at risk for a serious ocular injury. That's the time to speak up. You may just save a child's eyesight.
