Contents
The eye: the signature injury, and what protects
The reference numbers: 17.5 eye injuries per 100,000 playing-hours, 26% of players having suffered at least one, and the opponent's racquet as the source in 61% of cases — the ball in the rest (the 1990 Australian reference series). The 2024 systematic review adds the decisive fact: nearly all recorded injuries (a median 93%) happened with no eyewear, lensless frames are ineffective, and certified eyewear (ASTM-class standards) is associated with zero injuries in the reviewed data. The practical consequence is simple and lives inside this base's drills: certified eyewear for every junior, all the time — and for everyone in doubles.
The cardiac question — screen, don't avoid
Squash's classic literature describes sudden deaths in middle-aged players: two historical series (30, then 60 deaths, mean age ≈ 46) in which the great majority had underlying coronary disease — the game as trigger, the disease as substrate. Squash's demand is genuinely very high (heart rates measured around 150% of predicted maximum in play). The evidence-based answer is not avoiding the sport but screening: medical clearance before an intense return after years away, and a graded build-up — the competition medical certificate (mandatory in France) is the natural anchor for that precaution. The figures date from the 1980s–90s; today's incidence is not documented — the precaution principle stands.
Squash's own conditioning
| Method | What you do | The safety point |
|---|---|---|
| Interval ghosting | Work/rest blocks of corner movement, no ball | Form first: stop the interval when technique collapses — the tired, sloppy lunge is the road to injury |
| Court shuttles | Fast runs between the court lines, a lunge or touch at each end | Decelerate under control — the braking is where ankles roll |
| Lunge patterning | Slow, held lunges into every playing position, pushing back to the T | Front knee tracking over the foot, never collapsing inward — the mechanic that protects the knee |
Ankles, knees, the lower back, the heat of a closed court: coaches recognise these risks, but the literature quantifies them poorly — no clean denominator exists. The movement-quality work above is the common-sense answer, presented as exactly that.
What does not exist — and will not be sold to you
Squash has no FIFA 11+ equivalent: no squash-specific prevention programme with published efficacy (trial or cohort) was located beyond the eyewear evidence, and no federation publishes a standardised return-to-play protocol. When prevention content circulates, it is general good practice — not a validated squash protocol. This base says so rather than dressing it up.
Frequently asked questions
Are ordinary glasses enough?
Should a returning forty-something see a doctor first?
How many conditioning sessions per week?
Sources
Eye: Genovese et al., Medical Journal of Australia 1990 (17.5 / 100,000 h; 26%; racquet 61%; 8% wore eyewear); Mazarelo, Winter & Fong, The Physician and Sportsmedicine 2024 — systematic review, 29 studies (median 93% of injuries with no eyewear; lensless guards ineffective; ASTM-compliant eyewear associated with zero injuries). · Cardiac: Northcote et al., The Lancet 1984 (30 deaths, mean age 46.7) and British Heart Journal 1986 (60 deaths, mostly coronary disease); Brady et al., European Heart Journal 1989 (HR ~150% of predicted max). · Paak's squash corpus, file 05 (sport science and prevention — including the honest nulls: no validated programme, no published return-to-play protocol) — verified September 2026.