Binocular Vision

While seeing clearly is important, it is equally important to keep things clear. Accommodation, or eye focusing, allows an athlete to keep the game in focus. The strength, speed and accuracy of accommodation are especially important when viewing objects moving at high speeds (such as a ball or puck) or when scanning the field of play.

Often called “3D vision”, depth perception is dependent on the ability to use both eyes together in a very precise manner. Depth perception is important in every sport. Precise depth perception allows you to identify the exact location of an object (for example a ball) so that you can hit, kick or catch it. Depth perception also tells that athlete where they are in space, which is especially important when in motion.

Fusion is the ability to use both eyes together - is the foundation of depth perception and binocular vision (utilizing both eyes in a coordinated manner). Stable fusion allows the athlete to take in visual information in a reliable and consistent way. Instability of fusion disrupts athletic performance and can lead to inconsistent performance or difficulties with specific aspects of your game.

There are several conditions that affect binocular vision function. Some of these conditions are ocular (such as amblyopia, strabismus, cataracts, glaucoma, and several other ocular diseases) while others are systemic (such as diabetes, stroke, thyroid dysfunction, autism, and cerebral palsy to name a few). Our doctors work with your other health care providers to ensure a multi-disciplinary team approach to your overall care.

Eye movements must be fast, accurate, and coordinated while participating in sports. Eye movements are used to quickly scan the field of play or to track a moving object. The saying 'keep your eye on the ball' stresses the importance of efficient eye movements during competition.

Ocular posture, or the resting position of the two eyes, is evaluated to determine the presence or absence of strabismus (eye turn). Eye position is also related to how hard you must work to coordinate your eyes. Depth perception, fusion, ocular motility, vergence, and visual acuity are all affected by ocular posture.

The strength and flexibility of the eye teaming system should be evaluated. Deficits in eye teaming will result in double vision, eyestrain, fatigue, headaches, or dizziness. Deficiencies of the vergence system will affect sports performance either globally or during specific aspects of your game (such as putting in golf).

Clear vision is the foundation of both visual performance and overall performance. Simply put, if you cannot see well you cannot expect to play well. While 20/20 vision is adequate for daily life, most competitive athletes benefit from seeing better than 20/20. Athletes rely on clear vision to perform at their best.

Once visual information is taken in, it must be processed by the brain. Visual processing speed refers to how quickly and efficiently an athlete is able to make sense of visual information. In other words, how much information can an athlete process in a given amount of time. Processing speed allows for split second decisions and reactions to a changing visual environment.

People often comment that an athlete has 'vision' or 'sees the game'.They are referring to the player's spatial awareness and visual attention. Sports often require an athlete to divide their visual attention between central objects (such as the ball) and peripheral objects (such as incoming defenders). Seeing the game allows an athlete to play at a high level.

The integration of visual information with the other senses is critical. Making sense of your world relies on all of the senses working harmoniously. The integration of visual and motor skills is important during athletic competition. People often refer to this skill as 'hand-eye coordination'.

This group of skills includes visual discrimination (determining likeness), spatial relations (determining differences), form constancy (determining sameness even when changed in size or orientation), visual memory, visual sequential memory, figure-ground (extracting valuable information from the background), and visual closure (ability to put the pieces together to form the whole). These perceptual skills are essential for athletic success.

This perceptual skill is critical for the acquisition of new material and concepts. Deficits in working memory can result in challenges learning new concepts; such as spelling. Those who struggle with working memory often find that no matter how hard (or how long) they try, the desired results are not achieved.