Wow Vision Therapy Blog

Although an athlete may have 20/20 vision, this measurement only addresses one of the many components which contribute to the visual system.åÊ It’s possible there may be a deficit in the areas of eye teaming, eye focusing, eye tracking, peripheral awareness, depth perception or visualization that would hinder one’s ability to perform to their fullest potential.

Vision is a skill which can be trained, thereby making it possible to improve performance.åÊ One of the fundamental vision skills is tracking, or the ability to follow a moving object.åÊ Imagine standing at home plate and having a 100 mph pitch coming towards you.

Being able to track adequately is a necessary skill to have in order to make contact with the ball.åÊ Or, maybe you’re a catcher behind the plate.åÊ Isn’t it expected that you watch the pitch coming in, while still being aware of the players running the bases?

Activities that emphasize peripheral awareness would be stressed duringåÊ sports vision thearpy for a catcher.åÊ Depth perception is also an important element for any baseball/softball player.åÊ If you are in the outfield and a fly ball is hit directly at you, judging the timing and location of the ball accurately is critical.åÊ Good depth perception will enable you to make the appropriate adjustments in your field position in order to catch the ball.

The above paragraph specifically deals with baseball/softball, but the same arguments can be made as to why it’s necessary to have adequate visual skills in any sport.

A large part of sports vision therapy is about letting patients explore new situations.åÊ Because vision is a learned process, we can rely on these new experiences to make us more successful in the future.åÊ Sports vision therapy is a way in which we can accelerate this exploration process and have fun while doing it!

Read more about what some of our patients are saying in sports vision success stories!

Lindsey Stull, OD