Why good vision is important for sports

Among all the possibilities for improvement you may have considered, have you ever thought about vision? Some sports have already integrated the importance of sight to optimize performance and prevent injuries. Why not explore this avenue in cycling, running, and triathlon?

By Jean-François Tatard – Photos: pxhere.com / yeppon.it / picryl.com / DR

Seeing well? For a fencer, a tennis player, an archer or a rifle shooter, or even a biathlete, I understand, but for a cyclist, a runner, a triathlete, is the interest so obvious? It was my posturology coach, Baptiste Lacourt, who convinced me to take a round-trip plane ticket in one day to Geneva to meet an ophthalmologist. But not just any ophthalmologist, as you might imagine.

To the question “do you necessarily need to see well to play sports?“, the answer is no, since there is an international federation for visually impaired people. Nevertheless, some athletes will develop a more marked visual acuity and body lateralization than others. Others seem to have better stereoscopic vision and faster focusing speed. However, other athletes who compete in a sport where keen eyesight is not a determining factor in performance experience binocular vision problems with poor relief distinction. But I still wonder whether it is the sport that has made each person develop this type of visual quality, or whether it is because the athlete has this visual capacity that they are good at their sport.

The importance of vision

This is the first time a coach has put me on the ophthalmology track, I admit. It was Baptiste who made me realize the importance of sight and vision in running. He managed to convince me that it had to be used as a weapon. “Vision is not innate. Vision is acquired.” In short, it can be worked on… Recently, I discovered that the team of cycling champion Peter Sagan devoted a large part of his riders’ training program to it.

The postural regulation system uses information transmitted by the eyes, among other things. The eyes thus have the role of informing the brain about the nature of the environment and allowing it to adapt the work of each muscle so that standing or walking can be done in the best conditions. In this complex system, the eye, along with the foot, is the main entry point for postural regulation.

The impact on the body

The eye has no less than six muscles, and movement and speed that can constantly be improved. A defect in eye positioning or a slight ocular divergence will therefore create an imbalance in the postural muscle chains and, consequently, a modification of posture (shoulder rotation, pelvic tilt, etc.). Many pathologies (lower back pain, neck pain, joint pain, muscle pain, headaches, dizziness, etc.) which will be the consequence and not the cause of poor posture will then appear.

A defect in eye positioning or a slight ocular divergence will therefore create an imbalance in the postural muscle chains and, consequently, a modification of posture.

Thanks to reproducible clinical tests, Dr. Loïc Rollin, the orthoptist we went to meet with Baptiste and his team in the center of Geneva, we evaluated the integration of the visual sensor and other sensory and sensitive sensors and their links with each person’s muscle tone asymmetries.

Here’s what these tests look like: