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Vision performance services offer new area of expansion for ophthalmic practices
Facilities in Europe are incorporating sports vision to help athletes enhance the visual component of their game.
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Athletes across the globe, whether professional, amateur or recreational, are embracing new technologies and training methods to boost their performance. But while they lift weights, train in wind tunnels, adhere to strict diets and spend countless hours perfecting techniques, they often overlook one crucial body component: their eyes.
Recent studies are definitive: Athletes with superior vision skills perform better on the playing field. Until recently, however, no quantitative, interactive programs existed in the world of vision training. A U.S.-based company, Vizual Edge, is working to revolutionize the vision training game.
As a specialist in the field of vision performance training, I have teamed up with associate Kathy Puchalski to devise Vizual Edge Performance Trainer (VEPT), a computer-based, 3-D tool that improves a person’s timing, visual perception and decision-making ability. We call it “weight training for the eyes,” but you could say that it is performance training with the click of a mouse.
VEPT holds promise in athletic training as well as other fields, such as military training, concussion rehabilitation, academic drills and labor force training.
In-office and at-home training
In addition to evaluating visual alignment, there are four key exercises in the Vizual Edge arsenal: Depth perception, visual flexibility, visual recognition and visual tracking. The exercises can be done anywhere there is a computer with an Internet connection using a joystick, game controller, and mouse or keyboard arrows. Some of the exercises require 3-D glasses, which are provided by Vizual Edge, as is access to the Vizual Edge database, where one can review and update personal evaluation data and chart visual skill improvement over time. Like most video games, the level of difficulty of the exercises can be made more difficult as skills progress.
Having been in the sports performance field for a long time, I realized that for the field to progress and to satisfy skeptics, a program that was reliable, consistent and metrically driven had to be developed. There was demand for a program that could be used at eye doctors’ offices and be accessible away from the office that patients and clients could utilize.
As reimbursements decline for the typical practice, eye doctors are searching for new patients and innovative ways to diversify their services. In European countries, new patients and the demand for visual performance services can come from the thousands of athletes who are interested in enhancing the visual component of their game. In my practice, where we offer such services, we have found that sales related to contact lenses, sports glasses, sunglasses and laser vision correction have increased, as has the number of new patients.
International vision training
Vision training systems are becoming the next step in achieving an edge in a number of sports, according to Martin Lloyd, MCOptom, FAAO, FBCLA, an optometrist in the United Kingdom and past president of the British Contact Lens Association.
“Training routines including online training have been successfully used in rugby union and football and are now being considered at a professional level in cricket, a logical step when you consider how vision training has been integrated successfully into the baseball leagues in the U.S.,” Lloyd said.
These systems improve the efficacy of the neural networks, thereby improving complex vasomotor skills, Lloyd said. For instance, a recent study by Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi, U.S.A, concluded that college baseball players demonstrated an improvement in hitting performance after enhancing their visual skills through VEPT.
“Eye vision training has proven to be an invaluable tool to my sporting business and it allows me to get results faster than conventional methods,” Sean Van Staden, a sports scientist and director of Advanced Sports Performance in South Africa, said. “Athletes come to us tired and exhausted either from a previous training session or previous day’s practice. We assess the athlete’s ability to train and offer this technology to work on his eye vision performance.”
In addition to Europe, sports vision training has gained increased attention in Latin America, South America, Australia and New Zealand, among other countries. Clients who are interested in gaining access to vision technology and services include military, law enforcement officers, air traffic controllers, pilots and assembly line personnel.
- References:
- Hudak R, et al. An assessment of visual skills of athletes and non-athletes. Poster presented at: South Texas Regional McNair Scholars Research Conference; September 2012; San Antonio, TX.
- Spaniol F, et al. Effect of visual skills training on the batting performance of NCAA Division I baseball players. Poster presented at: National Strength and Conditioning Association Conference; July 14, 2008.
- Spaniol F, et al. The relationship between visual skills and tennis performance of NCAA Division I tennis players. Poster presented: National Strength and Conditioning Association Conference; 2011; Las Vegas, NV.
- Spaniol F, et al. The relationship between visual skills and volleyball performance of NCAA Division I volleyball players. Poster presented at: National Strength and Conditioning Association Conference; 2011; Las Vegas, NV.
- For more information:
- Barry L. Seiller, MD, MBA, can be reached at Visual Fitness Institute, 6 Phillip Road, Suite 1110, Vernon Hills, IL 60061; U.S.A. +1-847-816-3131; email: info@vizualedge.com.
Disclosure: Seiller is the developer and owner of the Vizual Edge Performance Trainer and lead consultant of visual performance research in the newly opened Sport Performance Research Lab at Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi.