SPORTS VISION
Image taken from http://www.eyesurgeonspc.com
Sports men and women tend to take their vision for granted. Most would claim that vision has little or no effect on their performance.
Individual sports performance relies totally on effective vision. Inaccurate distance judgment, blurry vision and poor tracking eye movements can prevent athletes reaching their full potential. Depth perception, visualisation, peripheral awareness, visual reaction time and eye/hand co-ordination are visual skills which also can affect performance.
Optometric sports vision care involves the examination of all visual functions which influence a competitor's ability to perform at the highest level. A vital aspect of that care is advising patients on the most suitable type of spectacles or contact lenses for their sport.
Correction for sports vision problems
When you have your optometric examination you should advise your optometrist of your hobbies and sports. Special types of vision correction often can give you much greater skill and enjoyment.
Contact lenses have an obvious advantage in contact sports where the use of spectacles is difficult. There are several advantages in wearing contact lenses in sports generally: protection of the eye, better and more natural peripheral vision, the lens follows the direction of gaze, contact lenses do not fog, and contact lenses give better eye teaming in all directions of gaze.
Your Urban Eyewear optometrist will advise you about the suitability of contact lenses for your particular needs.
Special needs
Different sports have different visual requirements and people's own visual needs differ as well. Particular optical appliances may be useful for certain sports. For example, special tinted glasses are available for target shooters, and correction for short- or long-sightedness can be included in scuba diving masks.
* The above information was provided by the Optometrists Association Australia
Back to top
Sharp Eye for Sharp Sports Performance
 How many of Australia's leading athletes have poor eyesight and need to wear corrective lenses? It is almost impossible to answer the question because most athletes with eye problem wear contact lenses when playing sport, according to ProVision optometrist SooJin.
With the range of visual enhancement options that are available today, athletes and sports people don't need to be restricted by poor eyesight. Most Optometrists and sport vision specialists would advise that contact lenses were preferable to glasses, particularly at the higher levels of sporting performance, although in some cases glasses can offer a higher degree of protection.
Contact lenses give a greater field of vision with a 'real world' image size that is not affected by the magnification of image reduction often experienced with spectacle correction. Furthermore, they don't fog up, fall off or get coated with rain mud or dust. The contact lens is for the majority of sports the best option. The advances with today's disposable contact lenses have been particularly significant. The innovation of the 'soft lens' means that the majority of people can now comfortably wear contact lenses. Today's lenses ensure maximum crispness and sharpness of vision. Over time conventional contact lenses, even with thorough cleaning, could become coated with a film that could not effectively be removed. This film gradually reduced the contrast sensitivity of lenses. "Contrast sensitivity involves seeing things in finer detail, extending beyond being able to see or read adequately," explains SooJin.
For people who prefer not to wear contact lenses, there is a wide choice of specialist frames to cater for the majority of spots. These range from swimming goggles to frames for rifle and pistol shooters. Swimming goggles can have an optical prescription ground into the lens. Rifle and pistol shooters can enjoy a lens that is positioned so that the shooter sights through the centre, rather than the edge of the lens as would be the case with conventional frames.
For high risk sports such as squash, where players are at risk of suffering eye injury from balls, racquets, hands and elbows, ProVision optometrists recommend the wearing of moulded polycarbonate frames and lenses that will not shatter or break. These can be fitted with comfort bridges and cushions to further minimise the risk of injury.
The good news is that these skills develop as we mature and if an optometrist finds that they haven't developed to the level that is needed, then they can be enhanced. The sports vision specialist will design a visual enhancement program. It is not a quick process. There are many inter-related visual skills that need to work efficiently together before you can say that an athlete is visually fit. On the other hand, it is only after the eyes reach their peak performance that an athlete can refine skills such as hitting, swinging, throwing or any of the other physical skills required for sport.
"The thing to remember is that visual fitness needs to come first before peak physical fitness can be achieved," says SooJin.
Back to top
Athletes Look to Physically Fit Eyes
Many of Australia's leading athletes are finding that to achieve international competitiveness they need better than 20/20 vision. Their eyes need to be as physically fit as their bodies.
Physical fitness for the eye is a concept that extends far beyond the traditional concepts of correcting eye defects through contact lenses or spectacles. Enhanced visual skills can give an athlete a competitive edge. ProVision optometrist SooJin, describes eye fitness as "something more akin to an exercise regime for your eyes."
Studies carried out on professional athletes have found that they not only have superior body speed and co-ordination, but that they also have enhanced visual skills. These skills include eye co-ordination, speed of focus and depth perception. What is also significant for all athletes, from school students to amateur sports participants, is that these skills can be taught.
The latest approach to sports vision is that if professional athletes have superior skills, then we know that members of the general public are able to improve their visual skills and therefore perform better on the sports field, golf course or tennis court. Visual skills aren't exclusive to top athletes.
80% of all information processed by the brain in the playing of sport was processed through the visual system. Studies have shown that improved visual processing capability could engage an athlete's judgment and hence reaction times.
SooJin advises sports people to look for signs of visual-related factors in monitoring their sporting performance. Inconsistency, failing to reach their anticipated potential and performance deterioration over the period of a game were all typical signs he said.
If any of these problems occurred, then people should consider having a specialised sports vision examination. If you believe that you might have a problem, then you should tell your optometrist what sport you play and the types of performance, reaction time or co-ordination difficulties that you are experiencing.
Any ProVision optometrist will be able to advise and may recommend consulting with a sports vision specialist. A typical examination covers issues such as eye mobility, depth perception, peripheral vision, eye co-ordination, speed of recognition and the ability to follow an object at speed with accuracy.
With sports such as squash, we recommend that all players should wear protective spectacles, even those players who have no need for corrective lenses. This particularly applies to children who are starting out in a sport where there is an increased risk for injury," says SooJin.
There are some sports, however where protective spectacles should not be worn, such as indoor cricket and boxing. In these sports contact lenses are the only option.
To explore the full range of options available for any sports person, and to receive sound advice, consult with a ProVision optometrist.
Back to top | 
