Vision is a crucial aspect of playing sports, whether a backyard game or as a professional athlete. High-level tracking, eye-teaming, eye-hand coordination, depth perception and peripheral vision are important skills to optimize for successful sports performance.
Vision therapy focuses on improving binocular skills (eye teaming and tracking) to enhance daily tasks, increase visual stamina, accuracy, speed and focus for the game. Accommodation (the ability to quickly change focus from near to far while maintaining clarity), and visual motor integration (the ability to interpret what you see and make the appropriate reaction in real time), are also skills that are vital to success.
Tailoring the program to the patient’s specific need is key. Utilizing activities that address visual weaknesses while adding movement, balance, accuracy, and concentration provide a unique opportunity to enhance visual skills and increase stamina for better game performance.
Common signs that a vision problem is impacting your sports performance:
- Aversion to team sports
- Diminished interest in sports
- Difficulty catching or throwing
- Inability to see the ball clearly
- Struggling to track the ball or other players
- Over or under estimating distances
- Poor sports performance even with strong athletic skills
- Improvement is not noticed even with practice
- Trouble remembering plays