Duplicate badminton players are more likely to get hurt in the game

Duplicate badminton players are more likely to seriously hurt their eyes during matches than singles players, suggests a small study published online in the magazine British Journal of Sports Medicine.

Goggles and health and safety tips should become the norm for all competitors, the researchers advise.

Badminton is particularly popular in Asia, but its popularity is also growing elsewhere. Badminton is generally considered safe because it does not involve physical contact.

But the ruffles are small and dense and usually move at high speed and close to the players. And in countries where it is widely practiced, badminton is causing a significant proportion of sports-related eye injuries, the researchers said.

In an attempt to determine whether any particular factors are badociated with an increased risk of eye injury during the game, the researchers collected information from 52 men and 33 women who were injured in sight when they were injured. a badminton match between 2011 and 2017.

They were all between 15 and 65 years old and played badminton for seven years on average, but none was a professional player.

In 60 of the cases, the player had been hit by a steering wheel; one racket caused the injury in the other 25.

While the ruffles caused more injuries, the racquet injuries were more serious and produced enough power to knock the player over, break his glbades or even break the eyeball, the researchers said.

Most of the injuries occurred in doubles matches (73 cases) and only 10 in singles matches. two cases involved pbaders-by rather than players.

In more than half of the cases (52), the partner of the double was injured, the other player having turned to him by striking a blow; in 31 cases, an opponent was responsible.

Most of the injured (70%) and unintentional culprits (82%) did not learn to play badminton by a professional. Half of the injured did not know that badminton was considered a high-risk sport because of its badociation with an eye injury.

The researchers pointed out that in 80 cases, the injury was not penetrating, but in five cases: a penetrating eye injury can result in permanent vision loss. And in one case, an individual became blind with a wounded eye.

The evaluation of the type of lesion showed that 58 were hyphaemias, where blood accumulated in the anterior chamber of the eye, and 36 of them had switched to secondary glaucoma. In 23 cases, the lens was partially dislocated (subluxation of the lens) and the injury resulted in detachment of the retina in two other cases. Twenty-six people had to be operated on for their injuries.

Their findings encourage researchers to make several recommendations, including advising people not to play badminton who already have an impaired vision, one eye that works, who is recovering from surgery, or who has already undergone surgery or illness. eyes.

For all others, "wearing protective eyewear is highly recommended, based on the advice of expert professionals, safety education and eye injury awareness that may arise," the researchers write.

###

Warning: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of the news releases published on EurekAlert! contributing institutions or for the use of any information via the EurekAlert system.