Since badminton has no physical contact, it is usually not considered a dangerous sport. However, according to the famous American scientific website Eurekalert, an online paper published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine pointed out that badminton doubles players are the most likely to have eye injuries in the game compared with singles players, so it is recommended that everyone wear protective glasses to play.
Lee Hyun-yi retired from the 2017 Malaysia Masters with an eye injury
Badminton is particularly popular in Asia and is becoming increasingly popular in other parts of the world. Badminton is generally considered safe because it does not come into physical contact. But badminton is small and usually moves at high speeds, and the researchers say that in countries where badminton is widespread, badminton causes a fair proportion of sporty eye damage.
To find out if specific factors were associated with an increased risk of eye injuries during playing, the researchers collected information on 52 men and 33 women who had suffered eye injuries during badminton matches from 2011 to 2017.
These people are amateur badminton enthusiasts, between the ages of 15 and 65, and have played badminton for an average of 7 years.
Of these, 60 were in which a player was hit in the eye by a badminton ball, and 25 cases in which a player was hit in the eye by a badminton pat.
Wei Dejiajia was accidentally hit in the eye by Chen Bingshun's killing ball
The researchers note that badminton is more likely to cause injuries, while badminton rackets are more likely to cause injuries because the rackets produce enough force to knock players down, break their glasses, and even break their eyeballs.
Most of the 85 injuries occurred in doubles (73), with only 10 occurring in singles and 2 involving spectators rather than athletes.
More than half of these cases were injuries caused by doubles partners (52 cases), with the victim suddenly turning to them when the hit was a hit, resulting in eye injuries, and the other 31 cases were the responsibility of the opponent.
The majority of injured people (70%) and the majority of unintentional perpetrators (82%) have no professional badminton training, and many are unaware that badminton is a high-risk sport associated with eye injuries.
The researchers noted that 80 of the injured had eye injuries that were not penetrating, but another 5 were penetrating eye injuries that could lead to permanent vision loss, including 1 of them whose injured eyes were directly blind.
Finally, the researchers advocated that those whose vision has been impaired, only one eye functioning normally, or who have already had eye surgery should not play badminton, and strongly recommend that others wear protective glasses to play badminton to reduce the risk of eye injury.
I wonder what you think of the researchers' recommendations? Have you ever had an eye injury from playing badminton around you?