Athletico Physical Therapy offers tips on choosing the right batting helmet

As young athletes begin gearing up for spring training, it’s important they’re choosing the right safety gear. Baseball and softball players suffer nearly half (45%) of all facial injuries in children’s sports. In many cases, these injuries could be prevented or less severe if players were wearing a properly fitted batting helmet.

While all leagues and teams require batting helmets, many coaches, players and parents don’t know exactly how to choose one that provides the right protection. To help reduce the number of head and facial injuries this baseball and softball season, Athletico physical therapists and athletic trainers developed a step-by-step guide to educate parents, athletes and coaches on selecting and wearing batters helmets:

• Measure athletes head circumference ½” to 1” above the eyebrow to get an accurate helmet size.
• Line up the ear holes with the athlete’s ears, ensuring the helmet is not sitting too high or low.
• Instruct players not wear anything under the batter’s helmet, such as a baseball hat.
• Make sure there are no gaps/spaces between the head and helmet.
• Confirm the athlete is able to see forward and side-to-side without obstruction.
• Try the helmet on with damp or wet hair to ensure gapping does not occur when players start to sweat

Helmet and protection differs by sport. Athletico has also developed a comprehensive helmet-fitting guide to help parents, coaches and young athletes become informed and pick out the right protection.