5 Ways To Prevent Serious Injury When Playing PaintballThe chance of getting seriously injured while playing paintball is on a par with getting seriously injured while bowling! Bicycle riding and golf both have higher incidents of serious injury. And if you play lacrosse, your chance of being seriously injured is more than 700 times what it is if you play paintball. You can get all
statistics here: http://www.f4og.com/safe.html.
1. Insurance and Waiver Forms
Regardless of above, paintball fields will still require you to sign a waiver for insurance purposes. You can find an example of a waiver here: http://www.paintballtogo.com/waiver.htm.
If you're a player or parent of a player and you're concerned about personal injury insurance, contact your insurance agent. If you're a paintball field owner concerned about insurance, you can check out this Web site: http://www.nsera.com/paintball/index.htm.
2. Eye Injury
Your required equipment includes a mask with built-in goggles. You need a mask for playing on any field or arena where you pay to play. This mask will include coverage of your full head and your eyes (goggles). You can’t wear shop glasses, or other types of safety glasses, as force of paintball may crack lens and send glass or plastic fragments into your eye.
Masks are not often found in exact sizes. However, you can wear a knit hat or baseball cap under a mask to keep it from sliding around if it’s too big. A backwards baseball cap also gives back of your neck some protection from paint as many masks lack adequate neck coverage.
When do you have to wear your mask? You need a mask as soon you enter playing field, when you’re waiting for another game to be finished and when you’re in staging area. Masks must be worn throughout entire game, no matter what. You can’t lift or take off your mask, or referee will take you out of game.
If you’re having problems with your goggles fogging or something obstructing your vision, call for a referee. Do not remove your mask! The one way you can get seriously injured in paintball is by getting shot in eye. If this happens, immediately call for emergency medical attention. Do not try to treat injury yourself!
Washable field paint is essentially non-irritating to eyes. However, if you do get paint splashed into your eye, flush your eye thoroughly with water for fifteen minutes. To be safe, you should also call for medical attention or travel to nearest medical center, clinic or hospital emergency room.
3. Knee and Ankle Injury
Many paintball sources recommend sneakers, tennis shoes, running shoes or other soft footwear to ensure you can move around as quietly as possible. However, if your ankles are weak, you’re playing in really rough terrain, or there are a lot of hills on field, wear hiking boots!
I’ve seen a player wreck his knee from running uphill in sneakers. After seeing how much pain he was in, I now recommend choosing safety over stealth every time. After all, it’s just a game! And, hey, don’t military wear combat boots?
