Sports vision therapy is a personalized form of vision therapy that is used to develop or enhance specific visual skills in athletes. Just like any other physical skill, an athlete’s visual skills can be improved through proper training. A custom sports vision therapy program can be just the solution an athlete needs to outperform their competition or solidify their place on a team.
Benefits of Sports Vision Therapy
Many athletes have the necessary basic skills to play their game, such as strength, speed and endurance. However, high-performing athletes go above and beyond, often because of their exceptional visual processing skills. This is why those who want to excel often turn to sports vision therapy to rise above and take their game to the next level. Sports vision therapy can help athletes improve their performance in a variety of ways, including:
- Improved hand-eye coordination: Hand-eye coordination is the ability to coordinate the movement of the eyes with the movement of the hands. Many sports require precise hand-eye coordination, and sports vision therapy can enhance this skill, helping athletes catch, throw or hit a ball with greater accuracy.
- Improved depth perception: Depth perception is the ability to judge the distance of objects from oneself. Accurate depth perception is vital in sports where athletes must judge the distance between themselves and the ball or other players. Refining depth perception reduces the likelihood of misjudging distances and making costly errors on the field or court.
- Improved visual processing speed for faster reaction times: Visual processing speed is the ability to process visual information quickly and accurately. Sports vision therapy helps athletes process visual information more quickly and respond accordingly. This can make all the difference in sports where split-second reaction times are essential.
- Enhanced Visual Acuity: Visual acuity is the clarity or sharpness of vision at a distance. Sports vision therapy can sharpen an athlete’s vision, improving their ability to see fine details. This skill is crucial for many sports where precision is essential. Better visual acuity also allows athletes to spot movements and objects more quickly, giving them an advantage in fast-moving sports like soccer or basketball.
Sports Vision Therapy Can Help for Your Sport
Each sport requires its own set of athletic skills in order to excel. Therefore, an athlete can improve their chance of success by working on those visual skills and abilities that are used most often during their gameplay.
- Basketball players often use sports vision therapy to improve shooting or passing skills
- Football players use this training for recognizing defensive coverage, expanding peripheral awareness and for receiving drills
- Baseball players can use this therapy to improve their hitting and fielding skills, recognize pitches more quickly or to improve catching reaction times.
- Soccer players can improve their dribbling and shooting skills, while goalkeepers can train their reaction time, peripheral awareness and decision-making.
- Hockey players can improve their game by enhancing the essential skills used on the ice, such as depth perception, reaction times and focusing ability.
- Golfers can enhance their depth perception in order to accurately assess distance to the hole and club selection, as well as hand-eye coordination to improve their swing and putting ability.
- Tennis players can see similar benefits, with improved focus, visual tracking and depth perception in order to maintain control of a small, fast-moving ball as well as maintain proper position on the court.
Family Vision Development Center Provides Highly Specialized Sports Vision Therapy
At Family Vision Development Center, we have advanced training in sports vision therapy techniques that allow us to help athletes fine tune the essential skills they need to succeed in their sport. First, we assess each athlete to determine the areas of improvement that are needed. Then, we develop a customized visual therapy program to enhance their specific visual skills and improve their athletic performance. We work with athletes of all ages and are dedicated to helping athletes reach their full potential. Contact us at 630-862-2020 to schedule your appointment to learn more about this type of visual training.
Family Vision Development Center is a full-service vision center offering innovative vision therapy services, sports vision therapy services, post-concussive vision rehabilitation, comprehensive vision exams for eyeglasses and contact lenses, management of ocular diseases including glaucoma, diabetes, macular degeneration and cataracts, and a state-of-the-art optical center offering the latest designs in eyewear.