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(Ivanhoe Newswire) High school baseball players are getting injured less, but when injuries do occur, they are more severe.
A new study out of Nationwide Childrens Hospital identified 132,000 high school baseball injuries during a two year period. The investigators attribute the rise in the severity level to the fact players are bigger today and competition is growing in intensity. That results in faster throws and harder hitting.
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Overall, more than half of the reported injuries involved a batted ball to the head and face, and among those, 40 percent caused fractures, lacerations, or concussions. Players hit by a ball were twice as likely to need surgery. About half of these types of injuries occurred among fielders, showing pitchers arent the only players at risk.
Based on our findings regarding the risk of sustaining an injury when hit by a batted ball, we strongly recommend helmets with face shields or at least mouth guards and eye protection be used by all pitchers, infielders and batters at the high school level, study author Christy Collins, M.A,, was quoted as saying.
According to the authors, these protections have become commonplace among younger players, but have yet to gain widespread acceptance among high school teams.
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SOURCE: Pediatrics, published online June 2, 2008
This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, who offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, go to: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.
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