Sports vision testing helps athletes determine how well their eyes perform. These tests go beyond standard eye tests that only evaluate the ability to see letters and objects clearly on a standard eye chart. Sports vision testing takes eyesight evaluation one step further, which is vital to overall athletic training as well as specifically enhancing visual function.
While sports vision testing can vary greatly depending on an athlete’s specific needs, in general, sports vision testing can be beneficial for assessing athletic abilities associated with hand-eye coordination, eye tracking, and depth perception. If you are a local athlete looking to improve your performance, our doctors can help.
Sports Vision Training Enhances Athletic Performance
Our optometrists perform several different types of testing for sports vision including any necessary correcting lenses if needed, contrast sensitivity, ocular alignment tests and visual processing speed and eye-hand coordination.
Contrast sensitivity is also important for athletic performance. During a contrast sensitivity test, you will be asked to identify the orientation of parallel gray stripes against backgrounds of various colors. The backgrounds gradually begin to match the shades of the stripes. Low contrast sensitivity, especially in low-light conditions, will make it more difficult to track objects. A variety of solutions can be effective for addressing contrast sensitivity concerns. These solutions include wearing eyeglasses with a special lens tint to increase visibility, depending on your vision needs.
Ocular alignment tests are performed to determine if you suffer from a binocularity problem. These tests evaluate how well both eyes work together. We will also perform eye dominance tests. If one eye loses focus too soon,this may create a condition where both eyes struggle to work together to manage depth perception and visual coordination.
Through a technology called RightEye, we are able to offer our patients state of the art sports Simon screenings and training for enhanced sports performance. Training can be done either in office or through on-line training sessions on a home computer.