The difference between a glorious home run and a strike come down to fractions of seconds.

Sports Vision Therapy can give you the competitive edge

Improve Your Sports Vision Skills in Belmont, NC

Sports Vision Therapy

Various visual tests help sportsmen and athletes to assess the performance of their eyes. If you are serious about a particular sport, you can talk to your doctor, so he can conduct tests specific to the way you need to use your eyes. Based on the results, you can then choose to undergo visual training to aid in your performance in the chosen sport.

Sports vision tests are a bit more than the usual tests for reading, etc. Some of the skills that these tests can assess are:

Hand and eye coordination
Depth perception
Eye tracking ability

girl playing tennis

The Research About Sports Vision Therapy

University of California Riverside increased batting averages of 30% after 24 sessions of Sports Vision training.

What Is Sports Vision Therapy?

Does Sports Vision Therapy help athletes with perfect vision?

We assume that if we do not need glasses or contact lenses our vision is perfect. And while we may recognize the important role vision has in athletic success, we think "our vision is great". The reality is that we all have elements of our visual system that can use improvement. A person with 2020 may still need to improve in their ability to track a fast moving object or to improve spatial recognition. The other thing many people assume is that sports vision therapy is only for professional athletes. While it is true that professional athletes do a lot of vision therapy, there is much to gain for all levels of competitions. The ability to play better improves the athletes self confidence and acceptance, and shows the true potential of the athlete.

Visual Skills needed for various sports

Different sports activities demand a perfection of different visual abilities. For example, an archer needs to know which is his dominant eye, so he can focus for longer periods with more stability. Great depth perception is important for a skier so that he can assess the turns and ridges. Players of a team need to have good peripheral vision so that they can see the position of their teammates well. Most sports like cricket and baseball also need a good eye tracking ability and hand-eye coordination.

Common Sports Vision Tests

The following are some of the vision tests helpful for sportsmen:

Visual Acuity - Using standard tests like the Snellen Chart or the LogMAR chart, your doctor may conduct a familiar vision test to measure your visual acuity. It has been seen in many cases that sportsmen have an undetected refractive error, which, even if is slight, may affect his performance. So, going for this basic test is the first step towards visual proficiency.
Contrast sensitivity test - A few tests may be done to determine the contrast sensitivity. One such test involves having you to identify a grid on a background that slowly begins to match its color. If you are found to have poor contrast sensitivity, lenses with tints may be helpful depending on the sport you take part in. Keeping the lenses of your spectacles or contacts clean may also help.
Assessing eye tracking ability - Various other tests deal with testing the ability of the eyes to track an object properly. These tests may use a computer or a mechanical rotating device to lead your eyes to follow a target in motion. In case of discrepancy, the same devices can be used to train your eyes to follow better.
Alignment tests - These tests aim at examining the alignment of both eyes. One example is the Hirschberg test. These tests show how the eyes work together. Eye teaming tests like the one using the Saladin Near Point Balance Card determine how well the eyes focus in relation to each other.
Eye Dominance tests - These tests are used to see which is the dominant eye. One example is the Dolman method. These tests also determine if there is a problem with binocularity or stereopsis, which may be seen when one eye loses focus sooner than the other.
Depth Perception - Tests like the Howard-Dolman test can determine the ability to see in 3D.
Visual processing speed tests - These tests determine how quickly you can see an object or a dropped object and react. These can help in your training to make your reaction times lesser and improve your hand-eye coordination.

How Sports Vision Tests Help

Sports vision tests help to detect any vision problems that may come in the way of your performance. Your eye doctor can help fit proper eyeglasses if needed. They can also help direct a course of training to improve the visual skills that are important for your chosen sport.

Our eye doctors at Charlotte NC’s Complete Eye Care can help you with special sports vision testing and offer specialty sports eyewear fitting.

What Is Vision Therapy?

Vision Therapy is special exercises that are tailored to the particular needs of the patient. The goal of these exercises is to teach the brain and the eyes to work together more effectively. Our Belmont Optometrists are members of the premier Vision Therapy organization the College Of Optometrists in Vision Development (COVD) and Nuero Optometric Rehabilitation Association (NORA).

How Does Vision Therapy Help With Sports?

Depth Perception
Hand and Eye Coordination
Eye Tracking
Eye Focusing
Periphery awareness
Spatial Awareness
Visual Reaction Time
Eyes ability to work together
The ability to visualize the trajectory of an object in movement.

The Research About Sports Vision Therapy

University of Cincinnati baseball team demonstrated a team wide improvement in all training metrics of at least 10% after six weeks of vision training. The batting average for the whole team went up 34 points from the previous season, which far exceeded the improvements of other N.C.A.A. teams.

How Does Sports Vision Therapy Work?

How Long is the training?

Sports Vision therapy is like any other form of therapy, the amount of months needed is dependent on the progress of the patient. Older more motivated patients tend to reach the desired results quickly by being extra diligent to do the at-home exercises. The vision training will be built around your comprehensive developmental eye exam, which will ascertain what areas are in need of improvement.