Practicing sports is one of the best hobbies that exist to improve the quality of life in both young and retired people.
The importance of generating good respiratory capacity, muscle strength, and improving both mental and physical health is something that cannot be underestimated.
Sports optometry, a discipline that specializes in evaluating and improving the vision of athletes, has been shown to have a significant impact on performance. From observation and projection skills to visual observation and concentration, vision plays an important role in sports success.
During the personal training of an athlete who has done sports optometry exercises, it can be observed that their skills improve. In sports such as basketball, it has been found that players who participate in vision training programs improve their ability to quickly assess their teammates’ positions and make accurate passes even in high-pressure situations. For example, these studies confirm the importance of sports training in the development of specific visual skills and its direct effects on sports performance.
HOW TO IMPROVE VISION IN SPORTS
important factors for improvement in sports vision are:
- Static Visual Acuity: Ability to recognize images and their details when the object is at rest.
- Dynamic Visual Acuity: Improves the detection and recognition of moving images. It is the skill that makes training much better and brings out the best in athletes.
- Eye movements: Thanks to the coordination function of the extraocular muscles, eye movements help to detect space in all directions and to search for moving objects. The flexibility of the movement makes the test difficult and requires a compensatory movement of the head, which can cause balance problems in some situations.
- Visual field
- Stereopsis: is the most common manifestation of binocular vision and is especially important in sports for estimating distances between different parts of the game. For many things related to sports, good stereopsis is very important.
- Accommodation is the ability of the eye to change shape and clarify the image everywhere. If there is a defect in accommodation, the player often has blurred vision according to the eye due to poor focusing.
- Ocular coordination: The visual system controls the motor system, and coordination is necessary to obtain a powerful and effective response to visual stimulus. The correct execution of sport actions depends on the correct facial structure and movement.
- Visual reaction time: The time between the perception of the stimulus and the response of the receiving subject. The less time spent registering, identifying, processing and responding, the better the player’s performance.
TREATMENT TO IMPROVE SPORTS VISION
The quality of vision when practicing sports, especially in elite sports, is very important. In professional sports, it is given much importance as this can influence the final result of the athlete.
There are several techniques to improve visual function:
- Starting with vision therapy, which involves therapy sessions to work on the eye muscles and the accommodative ability of the eye. It should be noted that not all athletes require vision therapy. It is necessary to consult with an ophthalmologist and evaluate if there is any type of defect in the visual system that interferes at the time of practicing the sport and affects the visual acuity. Visual therapy sessions should be started only in cases that do require it.
- Strobocopic glassess: this glasses design is used to enhance the athlete’s movements by increasing the time it takes the athlete to process visual information and this generate improved visual anticipation. This glasses prevents the athlete from receiving visual information during training, and this stimulates the visual-motor capacity. At the time of the real competition, when receiving more information because the athlete will not wear glasses, will have a much greater visual anticipation.
- Computerized visual training is the performance of visual tests that train the visual system. These also include visual reality systems where the athlete also trains visual skills and light systems to also train the visual motor skills.
In conclusion, there are several methods that athletes can use to improve reflexes and visual-motor skills. It is a subject that is still being developed and researched as the sports world is also in constant development.
Related Posts
Effective Methods to Prevent and Manage Myopia: Tips for Better Eye Health
Essential Vitamins for Eye Health in 2024
