#behavioural optometry

Eye Tracking and How it Affects Our Vision

Most people find it hard enough just to keep track of their everyday lives with all the pressures, demands, and to-do lists associated with it. And that’s merely keeping up to date with routines. It’s way harder for one in four of the global population, whose eyes can’t team up enough to track what they are seeing at any given time. And that’s with regard to everything they see, but it’s specially so when they’re trying to read, or make sense of where and how fast a moving ball is going, according to Gary Rodney, Australian Master of Optometry and Fellow of the International Academy of Orthokeratology and Myopia Control (FIAOMC).

Rodney says it is quite normal that faces are not always the same shape on both sides,  usually people’s ears aren’t either, and chances are that a person’s eyes will also not be identical in shape or size. And they may have a certain amount of difference in their refractive powers. But this becomes a problem if the eyes function even slightly out of sync and move and focus differently. This can lead to problems with vision, physical health, learning, and perception, and it can possibly leave a person uncertain of their physical place in, and relationship to, the world.

Read: North Sydney Behavioural Optometrist Perceptual Eye Vision Treatment Prevention

When the Messages Get Confused

Among the most common of deficits in students’ vision skills, eye tracking (also called ocular motility or oculomotor function) concerns the two eyes’ ability to move up and down and from side to side simultaneously, and shift their eye alignment accurately from one object to another in a way that the two eyes can provide an understandable single visual image between them, says Rodney.

The effort required in the brain to make this happen can have huge impacts on concentration levels and abilities to process information at a higher level in the brain. Poor functional vision skills can impact in the same way making it difficult to carry on a conversation and ride a bicycle up a hill. How the eyes collaborate (or don’t) with one another in terms of these movements, can completely change the way a person sees, as well as how much they understand or perceive of what they are seeing.

Total teamwork is necessary because the data about what is being seen is received from light rays which enter each eye individually, and each send separate electrochemical messages to the brain for processing. These are seen by the brain as two different views of the same object and blended into one image. If the two eyes don’t project the same data about the colour, location and texture as well as other means of reference used by the brain, this could lead to confusion, distraction and inability to get a meaningful understanding of what is being seen.

Read: Bondi & Mosman Behavioural Optometrist Clinic’s Vision Treatment Prevention For Cataracts

Results of Tracking Dysfunction

When eyes aren’t able to operate as a team a long list of health issues and a great deal of discomfort may follow in the form of acknowledged symptoms like nausea, headaches, dizziness, light sensitivity, and blurry vision; as well as feelings of disorientation and being off balance when walking, which may lead to clumsiness or a tendency to bump into things.  Pain in the face and neck are also commonly experienced, and the eyes themselves may be sore due to the strain put on them during the struggle to balance their focus. 

Eye teaming and eye tracking problems can also lead to learning and reading issues, impacting on fluency, comprehension and speed when reading. This may result in misdiagnoses when it comes to learning difficulties such as dyslexia, which could toughen the chances of effective treatment for about one of every three who have been diagnosed with dyslexia.

If any of the following patterns are adopted they could be possible signs that a child has eye tracking problems, which, according to Rodney, can only really be identified through in-depth testing.

Eye Teaming deficits may cause text or individual words to appear to “float” or “move” on the page because of the viewer’s inability to focus properly when eye movement is involved.

Reaction to Reading: If children are overwhelmed by pages of text; avoid or resist reading; and prefer to be read to, rather than read themselves; they may have tracking difficulties. When they do read, they may find it easier to do so if the font is large, but have a slow and halting reading pattern when they read out loud.

Physical Response to Reading: Those with tracking problems may squint or rub their eyes frequently, tilt their heads or move them from side to side, and/or use their finger as a guide to keep track of where they are in the text when reading.

Outcome In Reading: They may guess at words they can’t identify, and lose their place when reading, writing, or copying (especially when their eyes are in the return sweep phase). Other tell-tale signs are if they leave out or transpose words or sentences when reading ( particularly if the words are small or similar), or they tend to re-read words or sentences.

Writing: Signs there might be problems include poor handwriting, inaccuracy when it comes to word endings, low awareness of punctuation, and a tendency to reverse words or letters. Those with tracking issues may also they have difficulty when copying from the white board.

Sports: Poor sports performance (particularly when playing games which involve moving objects, may also be a result of tracking difficulties.

For more information on myopia prevention and management, perceptual vision and vision therapy and its importance, visit Myopia Prevention: Solutions, Control And Treatment In Sydney or the Smart Vision website: Optometrists Sydney: Optometry Services For Children and Adults | Smart Vision.

To book an appointment for a thorough eye check-up, click here or Call the Bondi clinic on (02) 9365 5047, the Mosman clinic on (02) 9969 1600 or the Pennant Hills clinic on (02) 9481 0449. 

Syndicated by Baxton Media, The Market Influencers, Your Digital Marketing Agency.

Ready for the New Normal? Don’t Forget Eye Care Says Myopia Expert

A lot has changed during the Covid-19 lockdown. And Australian Optometrist Gary Rodney (Master of Optometry) is concerned that while dealing with the aftermath, parents may overlook the impact the lockdown may have had on their children’s eyesight. Rodney, a fellow of the International Academy of Orthokeratology and Myopia Control (FIAOMC) and founder of Smart Vision Optometry, says that to avoid the possible and potentially serious consequences of this oversight, parents should be sure to have their children’s eyes checked as they head back to school.    

READ: Sydney Myopia Control Prevention Behavioural Optometrist Clinic Baby Pram Shock

Rodney says he understands how easy it would be to overlook eye care as the lockdowns slowly lift in the wake of the rampaging pandemic. Dealing with the back-to-school process, and adapting to work routines all over again, is challenging at the best of times. Doing so against a backdrop of constant talk about an undefined “new normal” that might change their world forever, while still stressed by the virus and lockdown regulations, will not make it any easier.

From Lockdown Stress to Myopia Epidemic

However, according to Rodney, it is vital that parents are aware that they could unknowingly be sending their children from a new pandemic straight into an epidemic, one that has seen myopia affecting the eyesight of millions of people around the globe in the past few decades and which is showing no signs of slowing down any time soon.

Testing children for the eye condition, or making sure they resume treatment if it’s been interrupted during lockdown, is especially important because of the increased screen time and restricted outdoor activity the lockdown lifestyle encouraged. Rodney says these two actions have been linked to a marked increase in the prevalence of myopia, and to speeding up the condition’s rate of progression. Further he says “We are seeing a significant increase in our clinics in eyestrain and impacted functional vision skills just from three to four weeks of Lockdown screen usage at home”

READ: Vision Behavioural Optometrist Ortho-k Myopia Prevention Eye Wear Care Clinic Sydney

Understanding Myopia

Myopia, also known as nearsightedness, is a refractive eye condition which affects distance focus, blurring anything that’s more than a few feet away. Progressive myopia is where the eyeball continues to elongate and stretch. This causes irreversible damage to the back of the eye as the retina is stretched. This can become a serious eye impairment which can lead to blindness later in life. Rodney says traditionally the majority of optometrists and ophthalmologists simply prescribe single focus distance glasses and contact lenses as has been done for years which is the worst thing you can do as far as myopia prevention is concerned.

HEAR: Gary Rodney Interviewed By David Wood Ultra106five.com

However Rodney says there are now evidence based options to control the progression and prevent the eyes from being harmed further. Everyone should educate themselves as to what is possible and what is this myopia epidemic.

He says that perhaps, as Australians return to work in a way still governed in their minds by the “old” normal while at the same time trying to come to grips with the concept of the “new” normal, they will get a bit more insight into what it means to be myopic and how huge the problem is becoming in our modern device driven world. Surrounded by a blur of changing figures and regulations, as well as inundated with endless true and fake news and information, they will find it difficult to get a clear picture of what the future may hold. And this, in turn, will make it impossible to perceive what that picture will mean to them and how they will fit into it.

For more information on myopia, its treatment and management, visit https://www.myopiaprevention.com.au 

Click here to book an appointment online or call either of Smart Vision’s two Sydney clinics at (02) 9365 5047 (Bondi), or on (02) 9969 1600 (Mosman). 

Syndicated by Baxton Media, The Market Influencers, Your Digital Marketing Agency.

Baby Pram Screen-time Shocks Master of Optometry Australian Optometrist

Reports of babies and toddlers being given mobile phones and tablets as comforters while their parents shop at the mall have horrified Australian optometrist Gary Rodney. A fellow of the International Academy of Orthokeratology and Myopia Control (FIAOMC), founder of Smart Vision Optometry and activist in the fight to flatten the curve of the global myopia epidemic, Rodney attributes this behaviour to the absence, and sometimes misleading, nature of available information on this eye condition which can affect children’s eyesight and also their ability to learn.

HEAR: Gary Rodney Interviewed By David Wood Ultra106five.com

Rodney said the reports speak of phones and tablets braced against hands too small to hold them, and with cartoon-streaming digital devices placed in pushchair pockets close to tiny faces. 

Rodney says he does not “blame” parents for doing this. Instead he believes it is the result of a lack of awareness on many Australian parents’ part regarding how babies’ and children’s eyes develop in the first months and years of their lives, and the importance of protecting their children from becoming part of the statistics that indicate myopia will affect half the world’s population by 2050.

READ: Vision Behavioural Optometrist Ortho-k Myopia Prevention Eye Wear Care Clinic Sydney

Pushchair Screen-time Affects a Baby’s Eyesight

Rodney says exposing babies to screens could unintentionally increase their chances of becoming myopic. Lack of time spent outdoors and too much screen time are two links identified by studies as having possible ties to the development of this treatable but incurable refractive eye condition. This has led to the American Academy of Paediatrics recommending that children under two years old should not watch screens at all, and older children should be limited to around 2 hours a day.

He said babies in prams or pushchairs are extremely vulnerable as their eyesight is still developing, and will continue to do so at least until they reach their third birthday. Newborn babies are shortsighted and unable to see further than a foot (30cm) away, without what they’re seeing becoming blurred, even if that happens to be their parents. This nearsightedness will normally disappear as the baby’s eyesight develops, but not in all cases.

An Eyesight Threat Not Just an Inconvenience

Near or short sightedness are the layman’s terms for myopia, Rodney said, labels which do not sound serious or threatening, and can often be misunderstood to be an inconvenience which can be fixed with a pair of glasses.

“These terms don’t paint a true picture of myopia and how it feels to see everything that’s more than a few feet away as a blur. It can leave a feeling of confusion in children who come to realise they cannot see, or interpret what they are seeing, as others do. For them a blur is a blur, whether it’s actually a tree, a mountain range, or even the family pet playing in the backyard. 

“Their vision is trapped where it was when they were babies in prams and pushchairs. Only now, they are not babies developing their eyesight, but children having to learn about, and react to, a world around them in a world where their eyesight has not developed in the same way as their peers’. When they go to school they are expected to assimilate information, most of which is presented in the form of images some distance away, and is often nothing but a blur to them. This can impact on performance at school,” Rodney says.

READ: Behavioural Optometrist Eye Care Clinic Mosman Sydney Children Myopia Prevention

The Importance of Myopia Treatment

Unless the right treatment is given, the eye impairment can worsen progressively until children reach their late 20’s when it usually levels off. And later in life can become a serious eye problem which can lead to blindness. 

Smart Vision Optometry clinics in Sydney focus on providing eye care for a number of vision problems with particular focus on children and myopia, and on determining the best treatment for each case. Visit the Smart Vision website: Optometrists Sydney: Optometry Services For Children and Adults | Smart Vision to find more information provided by the Smart Vision behavioural optometrists and for information on the precautions applied during COVID-19.

Click here to book an appointment online or Call the Bondi clinic on (02) 9365 5047, or the Mosman clinic on (02) 9969 1600.  

Syndicated by Baxton Media, The Market Influencers, Your Digital Marketing Agency.

Perceptual Vision a Major Player in a Winning Team

Some say that keeping your eye on the ball is all that’s required to be a good athlete. But during the last three decades both sports trainers and vision experts, like Australian behavioural optometrists Gary Rodney and Jacqueline Gattegno from Smart Vision Optometry, have become increasingly aware that while that fixed focus is definitely necessary, vision plays a far bigger role in star-level athletic performance than what initially meets the eye.

READ: Vision Behavioural Optometrist Ortho-k Myopia Prevention Eye Wear Care Clinic Sydney

Keeping Your Eye on the Ball is Not Enough

According to Rodney and Gattegno the key to top performance on the sports field lies in perceptual vision, and not just in the good eyesight determined by the Snellen charts of letters and numbers used in standard eye tests. Nor is perceptual vision purely about “keeping your eye on the ball”.

Instead it involves how athletes perceive, interpret and make sense of what they see, and how they process and respond to the “information” of the ball and its immediate surroundings. Any shortfalls in these areas of perceptual viewing can impact considerably on athletic performance levels if ignored.

“It’s not that people can’t take part in sport with perceptual vision problems. And they may even perform well. But there’s a good chance they will perform better, and be more committed to their involvement in the game, if those perceptual shortcomings are addressed,” Rodney, the founder of Smart Vision in Sydney, said.  

HEAR: Gary Rodney Interviewed By David Wood Ultra106five.com

How Sports Training Works

Rodney said players’ ability to keep their eye on the ball remains vital, but they also need to be able to judge where it is; track where it is going; and have a good idea of how fast it will get there, in order to time their response. And they also have to be aware of the environment in which the ball is travelling and any activities occurring which might affect their choice of how to respond. This involved a wide range of visual functions beyond dynamic vision.

He said perceptual vision can be improved using state of the art technology blended with the simple exercise that vision therapy provides. Programmes can be specially tailored to fit individual athletes and the sports they take part in, each of which have their own needs. These include hand-eye, eye-body and eye-foot coordination which power bodily movements as a response (tennis), excellent peripheral awareness of actions taking around them (team games) and other vision connected factors like reaction time, visual alignment, balance and depth perception. 

READ: Behavioural Optometrist Eye Care Clinic Mosman Sydney Children Myopia Prevention

Support for Sports Vision Training Growing

According to Rodney, vision therapy, which tweaks any shortcomings in perceptual vision, is increasingly winning support from professional coaches and trainers operating at everything from Olympic level to those moulding the Olympic and national sports stars of tomorrow on today’s school and public fields. It’s also winning the attention of parents wanting to understand whether vision issues are behind why their children are avoiding sporting activities.

It’s also attracting the attention of researchers, who are increasingly looking at the concept of perceptual vision and its connection to performance on the field. This has resulted in the publication of several studies and papers on both the prevalence of perceptual shortcomings in players, the therapy and its level of success.

Research Results

These have lead to wide-ranging conclusions, including statistics showing that athletes taking the medals at Junior Olympic and Olympic levels sported the best overall vision. At the same time, as many as one out of three of those who didn’t make the podium had less than perfect eyesight, and one in four scored lower when screened for depth of vision and eye-hand coordination. And a relatively small section even battled with keeping their eye on the ball.

Other studies and tests have shown vision training to produce better results, particularly in team games and those involving bats and balls. One such study, where cricketers were grouped separately for cricket and vision training, showed those given the vision training showed greater performance improvement than the others. Another showed 30% improvement in baseball batting averages after vision training.

Smart Vision Optometry clinics in Sydney focus on providing eye care for a number of vision problems with particular focus on children and myopia, and on determining the best treatment for each case. Visit the Smart Vision website: Optometrists Sydney: Optometry Services For Children and Adults | Smart Vision to find more information provided by the Smart Vision behavioural optometrists and for information on the precautions applied during COVID-19.

Click here to book an appointment online or Call the Bondi clinic on (02) 9365 5047, or the Mosman clinic on (02) 9969 1600.  

Syndicated by Baxton Media, The Market Influencers, Your Digital Marketing Agency.