August 13, 2024

3 Visual Skills That Can Make You a Better Athlete

To succeed in most sports, you need to be aware of your surroundings and aptly judge distances at a glance. Luckily, these skills can be enhanced through sports vision training. Sports vision training teaches athletes…
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Opto-Mization Optometry & Vision Therapy

3 Visual Skills That Can Make You a Better Athlete 640?350To succeed in most sports, you need to be aware of your surroundings and aptly judge distances at a glance. Luckily, these skills can be enhanced through sports vision training.

Sports vision training teaches athletes how to process what their eyes see, better and faster. It not only improves the visual skills needed to excel in your sport but also helps you stay safe by diminishing your risk of concussion and other accidents.

Sports vision training enables you to thrive in sports like football, basketball, baseball, hockey, and tennis. In fact, just about any sport!

By developing your visual skills, you’ll have an easier time catching, throwing, and hitting an object. Improving your tracking, concentrating, peripheral awareness and depth perception skills can help you better gauge the distance between a basketball and the net, or the proximity of another player as you sprint to the field goal.

So it’s really no surprise that sports vision training gives athletes an advantage over their opponents.

What is Sports Vision Training?

Sports vision training is a customized program that improves the communication between the eyes, body, and brain. The program is carefully formulated for your given sport and employs strategies and exercises that train the brain and body to adapt to what the eyes see more quickly and accurately.

Ways Sports Vision Training Can Help You Become a Better Athlete

Depending on your specific needs, sports vision training can improve these and many other visual skills:

1. Focusing and Tracking

Focus flexibility (also called accommodation), refers to the eyes? ability to quickly shift focus. Improving your eye-focusing skills will help you concentrate better and refocus your vision more quickly and precisely. This will, in turn, improve your ability to process moving objects.

Convergence (or tracking) is the ability to track objects or people with eyes operating in tandem.

2. Depth Perception

Depth perception is the ability to determine the distance between yourself and other individuals or objects in three dimensions.

People with superior depth perception have an easier time gauging the exact position in 3D of an approaching object.

In fact, depth perception is one of the visual skills baseball players rely on the most to make a great catch or steal a base.

3. Peripheral Awareness

Peripheral awareness training helps you how recognize and analyze objects and people from the ?corners? of your eyes. Without good peripheral vision, players on the field may not perceive a ball or other players approaching them from the left or right.

No matter your sport, the sharper your visual skills, the better your performance. Contact your eye doctor to determine which of your visual skills strengthening.

Contact Opto-mization NeuroVisual Performance today to discover how sports vision training can help you become the athlete you’d like to be.

Opto-mization NeuroVisual Performance serves patients from Victoria, Nanaimo, Duncan, and Vancouver Island, British Columbia and surrounding communities.

Frequently Asked Questions with Scott Irvine, O.D.

       Q: Can sports vision training improve 20/20 vision?

  • A: For most people, having 20/20 vision is ideal, since it gives them the excellent visual acuity they seek for daily tasks. Sports vision training, however, doesn?t improve visual acuity; it cannot make someone less nearsighted, but it can enhance the visual skills athletes need to succeed.
  • Q: Who can benefit from sports vision training?
  • A: Sports vision training is ideal for anyone at any age who wishes to improve their performance, in just about any sport. It?s particularly effective for athletes who play soccer, football, golf, hockey, baseball, and ping-pong ? all of which involve fast-moving objects like balls and hockey pucks.

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Opto-Mization Optometry & Vision Therapy
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Our Nanaimo Practice
Opto-Mization Optometry & Vision Therapy
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  • What is Neuro-Optometry?

    Neuro-Optometry focuses on the intricate connection between your visual system and the brain, extending beyond traditional eye care to assess functional vision. This branch of optometry examines how your eyes track, move, coordinate, and how your brain processes depth, motion, and balance. Disruptions in these functions can lead to a range of issues including headaches, migraines, dizziness, balance challenges, post-concussion symptoms, reading difficulties, and attention deficits (ADHD). By exploring these functional areas, we also identify opportunities to enhance performance in activities such as sports, reading speed, and cognitive processes.

  • What is Vision Therapy?

    At Opto-Mization, vision therapy is a specialized, personalized program aimed at improving visual skills and abilities. It goes beyond traditional vision therapy to help improve how the eyes and brain work together, addressing visual-motor and perceptual-cognitive challenges to enhance overall visual function. It’s more than just exercises; it’s a pathway to better vision and improved daily life.

  • Do you Provide Regular Eye Exams and General Optometric Services?

    Yes, alongside vision therapy and neuro-optometry, we offer comprehensive eye exams and general optometry services. Our experienced optometrists perform thorough eye exams to evaluate overall eye health, identify any eye conditions or diseases, and prescribe corrective lenses when beneficial.

  • Who is the Ideal Candidate for Vision Therapy and Neuro-Optometry?

    Vision therapy and neuro-optometric rehabilitation can help individuals of all ages. Whether you’re struggling with visual processing issues, binocular vision disorders, amblyopia (lazy eye), strabismus (eye misalignment), or have sustained a brain injury, our services might be beneficial for you. Contact us to discuss if our tailored approach can meet your specific needs and goals.

  • Do I Need a Referral to See an Optometrist at Opto-Mization?

    No, you do not need a referral for an eye exam at Opto-Mization. We welcome anyone who suspects they might benefit from our services, whether you’re experiencing symptoms of visual discomfort or just want to ensure optimal visual performance. Feel free to reach out and schedule your appointment directly with us to take the first step toward understanding and improving your visual function.

  • Do You Direct Bill Insurance?

    Yes, we offer direct billing for a variety of insurance plans to make the process as seamless and hassle-free as possible for our patients. Our knowledgeable staff is well-versed in working with insurance providers, ensuring that you can maximize your benefits while minimizing out-of-pocket expenses for our services, including vision therapy and eye exams.