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Facemasks Block Lower Visual Field in Youth Ice Hockey

Wearing a facemask (FM) reduces the spread of COVID-19, but it also blocks a person's lower visual field. Many new public safety rules were created in response to COVID-19, including mandated FM wearing in some youth sports like youth ice hockey. We hypothesized that FM wearing in youth hockey...

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Autores principales: Critelli, Kyle, Demiris, Victoria, Klatt, Brooke N., Crane, Benjamin, Anson, Eric R.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8685261/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34939030
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fspor.2021.787182
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author Critelli, Kyle
Demiris, Victoria
Klatt, Brooke N.
Crane, Benjamin
Anson, Eric R.
author_facet Critelli, Kyle
Demiris, Victoria
Klatt, Brooke N.
Crane, Benjamin
Anson, Eric R.
author_sort Critelli, Kyle
collection PubMed
description Wearing a facemask (FM) reduces the spread of COVID-19, but it also blocks a person's lower visual field. Many new public safety rules were created in response to COVID-19, including mandated FM wearing in some youth sports like youth ice hockey. We hypothesized that FM wearing in youth hockey players obstructs the lower field of view and may impact safety. Youth hockey players (n = 33) aged 12.03 (1.6) years button press when they saw an LED on the floor turn on in two conditions (wearing FM or no FM) in random order. An interleaved one-up/one-down two-alternative-forced-choice adaptive staircase design was used. Visual thresholds were calculated for each condition and participant. The visual angle threshold (VAT) was determined using standing eye height and the linear distance from the tip of the skates to the visual threshold. Paired t-tests determined whether mask wearing changed the VAT. We modeled the probability a player could see the puck on their stick in four distinct scenarios to estimate the potential impact of FM wearing during hockey play. The average unmasked VAT (11.4 degrees) was significantly closer to the skates than the masked VAT (20.3 degrees) (p < 0.001). Our model indicated a significant reduction in ability to visualize the puck using peripheral vision when more upright while wearing a FM. FM wearing compromised their lower visual field, suggesting a downward head tilt may be necessary to see the puck. Playing ice hockey while wearing a FM may lead to unsafe on-ice playing conditions due to downward head tilt to see the puck.
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spelling pubmed-86852612021-12-21 Facemasks Block Lower Visual Field in Youth Ice Hockey Critelli, Kyle Demiris, Victoria Klatt, Brooke N. Crane, Benjamin Anson, Eric R. Front Sports Act Living Sports and Active Living Wearing a facemask (FM) reduces the spread of COVID-19, but it also blocks a person's lower visual field. Many new public safety rules were created in response to COVID-19, including mandated FM wearing in some youth sports like youth ice hockey. We hypothesized that FM wearing in youth hockey players obstructs the lower field of view and may impact safety. Youth hockey players (n = 33) aged 12.03 (1.6) years button press when they saw an LED on the floor turn on in two conditions (wearing FM or no FM) in random order. An interleaved one-up/one-down two-alternative-forced-choice adaptive staircase design was used. Visual thresholds were calculated for each condition and participant. The visual angle threshold (VAT) was determined using standing eye height and the linear distance from the tip of the skates to the visual threshold. Paired t-tests determined whether mask wearing changed the VAT. We modeled the probability a player could see the puck on their stick in four distinct scenarios to estimate the potential impact of FM wearing during hockey play. The average unmasked VAT (11.4 degrees) was significantly closer to the skates than the masked VAT (20.3 degrees) (p < 0.001). Our model indicated a significant reduction in ability to visualize the puck using peripheral vision when more upright while wearing a FM. FM wearing compromised their lower visual field, suggesting a downward head tilt may be necessary to see the puck. Playing ice hockey while wearing a FM may lead to unsafe on-ice playing conditions due to downward head tilt to see the puck. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-12-06 /pmc/articles/PMC8685261/ /pubmed/34939030 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fspor.2021.787182 Text en Copyright © 2021 Critelli, Demiris, Klatt, Crane and Anson. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Sports and Active Living
Critelli, Kyle
Demiris, Victoria
Klatt, Brooke N.
Crane, Benjamin
Anson, Eric R.
Facemasks Block Lower Visual Field in Youth Ice Hockey
title Facemasks Block Lower Visual Field in Youth Ice Hockey
title_full Facemasks Block Lower Visual Field in Youth Ice Hockey
title_fullStr Facemasks Block Lower Visual Field in Youth Ice Hockey
title_full_unstemmed Facemasks Block Lower Visual Field in Youth Ice Hockey
title_short Facemasks Block Lower Visual Field in Youth Ice Hockey
title_sort facemasks block lower visual field in youth ice hockey
topic Sports and Active Living
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8685261/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34939030
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fspor.2021.787182
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