Improve Your Sports Performance With Prism Glasses

Now that spring has arrived, spring sports are in full swing. In most areas of the country, these include baseball, softball, tennis, soccer, track and field, and golf.  Kids as well as adults are looking forward to enjoying themselves as well as pushing the limits of what their bodies can do. In order to perform their best, however, athletes must have both good depth perception and good hand-eye coordination. Unfortunately, for those experiencing the effects of a binocular vision disorder like vertical heterophoria (VH), this can be a big problem.

How Does Vertical Heterophoria Affect Stereo Vision?

VH is a condition that arises when the eyes are out of alignment with each other. When an athlete’s eyes are even slightly out of alignment, the player’s stereo vision (and thus their performance) is going to suffer. Stereo vision is the combining of two separate images, one from either eye, into one 3D picture. Defective stereo vision usually results in poor depth perception and spatial awareness, making it very hard for athletes to correctly judge where their bodies are in space, let alone where a ball is. Fortunately, there is something that can correct stereo vision and thus optimize athletic performance: aligning prismatic lenses.

Improving Depth Perception With Prism Correction

During a neurovisual evaluation, we test binocular vision using a variety of objective and subjective tests, which enable us to detect very small eye misalignments in the vertical and horizontal planes that can’t usually be found in a routine eye exam. Prisms incorporated into eyewear correct these small misalignments and improve high-definition vision. Increased depth perception is another result of prismatic correction, and is often the first thing people notice when they start wearing prism glasses. Good depth perception is what enables athletes to identify and track a fast-moving target such as a ball, while good hand-eye (or foot-eye) coordination allows the athlete to hit, kick or catch the ball with precision.

If you want to increase your performance on the field (or at the golf course), call the Neuro
Visual Center today at (516) 224-4888 to schedule your own neurovisual eye exam.