Face guards would reduce youth baseball injuries, study says

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Booster Shots recently reported that some cities are outlawing the use of metal bats in youth baseball in order to reduce the risk of injuries to the pitcher and fielders from hard-hit balls. Now a study has been published calling for the use of face shields or mouth guards for all high school-age fielders.

The study, published today in the journal Pediatrics, reviews baseball injuries from 100 high schools from 2005 through 2007. The authors, from Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, found that shoulder injuries were the most common (17.6%), followed by ankle injuries (13.6%) and head and face injuries (12.3%). But it was the nature of the head and face injuries that concerns the authors of the study. They noted that greater proportions of injuries attributed to being hit by a batted ball were to the head, face or mouth compared with injuries not caused by the batted ball. In addition, a greater proportion of injuries caused by a batted ball required surgery (18%) compared to other baseball-related injuries.

High school baseball is relatively safe, the authors say. But they ‘strongly recommend helmets with face shields or at least mouth guards and eye protection be used by pitchers, infielders and batters at the high school level.’ Baseball players are used to wearing batting helmets, and softball rules have changed to mandate the use of a face shield on the batting helmet. Are fielding helmets next?

- Shari Roan