Nike Sports Glasses One Part of Improving Sports Vision
Posted on Thu, Feb 02, 2012 @ 08:00 AM
A recent article featured Greg Jennings of our beloved Green Bay Packers, talking about the benefits of sports vision training using glasses specially designed by Nike. Greg’s training and Nike’s glasses seem to be yielding results, but they’re only one piece of the sports vision training puzzle.
Let’s take a look at those glasses. Named Vapor Strobes, this plastic eyewear has liquid crystal display lenses that flash microscopic electric charges, blocking vision in 100-millisecond patterns. These “blocks” force a player to anticipate what is coming and focus on the task at hand.
The article quotes Dr. Alan Reichow, a developmental optometrist (kudos to Nike for hiring the right person for the job), as saying “By giving them less information, we force athletes to utilize what we give them more efficiently. It’s essentially stress training on the sensory system.”
The numbers seem to be yielding dividends for Jennings. In his third year in the NFL (2008), he dropped eight passes. This year he’s cut it back to three. He’s also persuaded other Packer receivers to use the glasses, and the unit’s frequency of dropped catchable balls dropped to 7.8%, down from 10.9%. No wonder Aaron Rodgers is having such a great year.
Nike approaches just one part of Sports Vision Therapy
Dr. Kellye Knueppel of The Vision Therapy Center, who has used vision therapy to help many athletes for sports vision improvement, is excited that the strobe glasses are making more people aware of the possibility to improve visual skills for sports. She cautions that you should consult a developmental optometrist when using Vapor Strobes.
“They’re just one piece in the puzzle,” said Dr. Knueppel, an avid Packer fan herself. “To get the maximum effect out of the glasses, and for improved sports vision in general, you need to consider other visual skills.”
Dr. Knueppel notes that eye teaming, accommodation (eye focusing), eye-hand coordination, visual reaction time, peripheral awareness, and tracking are some of the other skills that must be considered for sports performance.
“The glasses are great, but if you have problems with eye-teaming and your depth perception, for example, then taking steps to correct those visual skills would have a much greater impact on your performance. A developmental optometrist would perform a sports vision examination to evaluate all the visual skills necessary for your sport and design a program for maximal improvement. The Vapor Strobe glasses would definitely be considered as part of the program, but may not be the first technique to use,” Dr. Knueppel said.
If you have questions regarding the Vapor Strobes, or would like to purchase a pair for yourself, please contact The Vision Therapy Center.
(Photo by SMI Eye Tracking)
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The Vision Therapy Center has helped over 2,000 people overcome vision problems since 1995, and has Wisconsin vision therapy offices in Brookfield and Madison.