00:01Keep your eye on the ball.
00:03That advice is serving as more of a safety warning for some pickleball players.
00:09Yeah, when that ball's coming so fast, man, it's super dangerous.
00:12The fastest growing sport in the United States is driving a sharp increase in the number of eye injuries,
00:18especially among older players.
00:21The most common injuries are just on the surface injuries.
00:24Corneal abrasions, lid edema, these are the common ones.
00:27Dr. Andrew Lee, a neuro-ophthalmologist in Houston, co-authored a study analyzing 10 years of nationwide injury data
00:34that found an upswing in pickleball eye injuries compared to other sports.
00:40We've seen not only an increased frequency, but the severity.
00:44So it's both, the frequency and the severity have increased.
00:47And so I think part of it's just the learning curve on the game.
00:52More participants equals more people at risk.
00:54But part of it is just this sense of complacency.
00:57And even the name itself, pickle, that pickleball makes it seem like you don't need to protect yourself.
01:02But you need eye protection for pickleball just like any ball sport.
01:06The study, published this year in the scientific journal Nature,
01:10noted the plastic pickleball travels at speeds of approximately 40 miles per hour.
01:1661-year-old Jay Vitella joined an over 50 pickleball league in spring Texas to keep play at a slower
01:23pace.
01:24I played with some of the young kids.
01:25Man, I was like, OK, this is way too fast for me.
01:27So I started doing a silver league.
01:29That way, everybody's more my pace, you know.
01:31One of Dr. Lee's top recommendations for pickleball players, especially older ones, is eye protection.
01:37The prevalence has been upticking because more people are playing pickleball.
01:43And so when you have inexperienced people who are a little older, no eye protection and complacency,
01:50these are the factors that combine to increase the injury rate.
01:53Definitely got to wear some glasses of some type, yeah.
01:55I used to play squash and we always wore eye protection.
01:58So I understand it.
01:59And once the word gets out, I think it will become common.
02:02It makes sense once you hear people talk about it.
02:04I just anecdotally heard about people getting injured playing pickleball.
02:08So I wasn't sure I wanted to get started, but I got started anyway.
02:12I haven't been injured yet.
02:15But for new players and those who have found power in the paddle, Lee says staying alert is key.
02:22Yeah, we certainly don't want to discourage people from playing pickleball.
02:25It's great exercise.
02:26It's a lot of fun.
02:27That's why people like it.
02:28The things we would emphasize are eye protection and avoiding complacency.
02:33Yeah.
02:34The things we would emphasize are
02:35good- ë
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02:35our
02:36individual
02:36and
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