Sports eyewear protective standards

Abstract

Eye injuries sustained during sport comprise up to 20 per cent of all injuries to the eye serious enough for medical attention to be sought. The prevalence of eye injuries in sport is not easily assessed due to lack of authoritative participation rates, so most studies report total numbers in a time period. The evidence on the proportion of all ocular injuries that are from sport is reviewed. The relative frequencies in different sports are compared in a qualitative manner and the sports with greater numbers of ocular injuries are detailed. In common with occupational injuries to the eye, most sports eye injuries are considered preventable.The hierarchy of action for occupational risk is detailed and adapted to use in a sports scenario. All the available international, regional and national standards on sports eye protection are detailed and their provisions compared. The major function of the standards is to provide adequate protection against the hazard of the sport concerned. These are detailed and compared as a function of energy transfer. Eye protection must not introduce additional or secondary hazards (for instance, fracturing into sharp fragments on impact) and not introduce features that would deter the wearing of eye protection (for instance, restricting field of view to impede playing the sport). The provisions of the standards intended to limit secondary hazards are detailed and compared.The need for future work in standards writing and the activities of the International Standardization Organization in sports eye protection are detailed.

Eye Injuries across history and the evolution of eye protection

“…Eye protection standards for a wide range of sports are published (Dain ) and have been adopted to varying degrees, with data on eye injuries playing a key role in determining the risk profile and appropriate prevention measures. Field hockey (Kriz et al.…”

Knocked by the shuttlecock: twelve sight‐threatening blunt‐eye injuries in Australian badminton players

“…Appropriate protective sporting eyewear for badminton needs to effectively shield the eye from a smash shot shuttlecock impact and therefore, is recommended to meet the frontal impact requirements of racquet sports under the national standards for sports eye protection, for example, AS/NZS 4066 or the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) Standard F803. 13 Furthermore, we strongly discourage the use of lens-less eye protectors, given they do not adequately protect against small shuttlecock bases. The use of spectacles is also associated with increased frequency and severity of injury because of shattered lenses and the risk of penetrating ocular injury 2,14 and should not be worn by badminton players.…”

Rate-activated strapping for improved retention of protective eyewear during impact

“…Protective eyewear is a common requirement in environments ranging from industrial to athletic to military [1][2][3][4].…”

“…The objective of this study was to demonstrate the feasibility of using shear-thickening fluids to improve the performance of retention systems for protective eyewear, using women's lacrosse goggles as an example application [1,[18][19][20]. The primary purpose of lacrosse goggles is to reduce eye injuries from ball strike, although they serve a secondary role to provide eye protection from stick and body blows.…”