Anyone get an eye injury in sparring?

[soryu]

I recently received a ridgehand strike in the eye while sparring. I have been hit in the eye before but this time I went to the doctor.

I evidently have an " orbital blowout". The thin eye orbital bones are broken and requires surgery. It really brought home to me how easily the eye or orbit can be damaged.

Anyone else had this problem? Any recommendations as to what type of headgear or protection might be advisable in the future. I hate those full face helmets and was hoping there was an alternative.

[SaiFightsMS]

Facial injuries to happen in sparring. It is something everyone should thing about when going into full contact sparring or sparring without padding and helmets. Afer an injury like this it would indeed seem to be unwise to spar without a face cage.

[bushido_man96]

Sorry to hear about your injury! That sounds painful.

Fortunately, I have never had an eye injury in the martial arts. However, one time, I did manage to remove one of my friend's contacts with my big toe! He recovered well, and wasn't permantly injured, so we can laugh about it now.

[AikiGuy]

Soryu, I hope that thing heals completely. It sounds painful. I have never broken a bone but I did get a black eye from sparring once. The other guy had a bloody nose too. We were going full contact with standard headgear which of course does not protect the front of the face. I have also bruised a shin bone in sparring so badly that I was on crutches for 3 weeks. Needless to say, I now own a full-face headgear with a cage and shin pads.

As for choosing a headgear, I recommend at least getting a full-face headgear that covers the chin and part of the cheeks, similar to a boxer's headgear. The closer it comes to the nose, the better. Here's something to consider if you are tall: A very tall student in my class (6'3") says the pads that come more forward on the cheeks block his vision of low kicks unless he tilts his head. I am average height (5'9") and don't have this problem at all. I have used this for a while and love it. It's very good even without a cage because any shot that even partially touches the padding will be softened. I suppose a straight shot to the center of the nose could possibly still bruise or even break it. I've never had that happen yet but that fear is why I got the face cage. My son has a standard headgear with no cheek/chin protection but with a detachable plastic face shield with chin pad. Either one of these combos will do fine in hard sparring.

The metal cage is heavier but visibility is pretty good and it seems very durable. Probably the strongest I have seen. They make plastic cages too if you want to go lighter. The clear plastic face shield is very light and they say it contains something that prevents fogging up. My son has not had any problem with his shield yet after sparring about a dozen times with it. I don't know how durable they are but I have sparred with him at about 70 percent of the strength I would use in full contact with an adult and there's not a scratch on it. I hope it stays that way but it's still too new to say for sure.

I hope some of this helps. Good luck and let us know how it goes.