Visual Acuity
Your eyes can be the difference between making or missing a catch. Just like we can train muscles in the body, we can also train muscles in the eye for improved visual acuity.
The muscles of the eye are controlled by cranial nerves and differ from skeletal muscle because they have less fibers and more blood vessels due to the fast movement nature of eye muscles.
Image from www.seevividly.com
Here are some quick exercises you can build into your warm up to improve visual acuity. Do these exercises often and you will see changes in your ability to locate and track the football.
Warm up eye muscles
Using your thumb or a pen held about half an arm's length away from your face, trace the shape of an “H” in the air and have your eyes track the pen or thumb without moving your head or body. See image below for shape reference. You can also do this for a teammate and have them hold the pen and slowly trace an H in the air for your eyes to follow. Perform for one minute or until eyes are fatigued.
Connecting head movement to eye movement
Place your hand an arm’s length away from your face and stick your thumb up. With your eyes locked in on the thumb, turn your head back and forth and up and down slowly without losing eye contact with the tip of your thumb. Play with different placements of the thumb to get different angles of connection. Do this for 2 minutes or until your eyes feel fatigued.
Rapid eye movement
Locate two items about 30 yards away from you that have at least 10 yards of distance between them. In an athletic stance with core engagement, rapidly move your eyes back and forth between the two objects. Stop as soon as your eyes feel fatigued. Repeat 1-3x.
Add this to your next warm up and let us know if you notice a difference.
This article is for general information only. The advice and recommendations we discuss do not replace a healthcare provider's advice, treatment, or care. The use and implementation of the information discussed are at the sole discretion of the reader.