The importance of glasses in sport

In an article published recently in Sport Week, Vittorio Roncagli, president of the European Academy of Sport Vision, talked about the changes in wearing glasses for sport and the importance of correct vision education for sportspeople; he also pointed out that only a couple of decades ago it was rare to see an athlete wearing glasses.

'The first optometrists to investigate the problems specifically linked to sport were amazed at the high percentage of athletes who did not have regular checkups and needed corrective glasses or contact lenses' he said. 'And when they went more deeply into how much vision capabilities affect sport, they were even more surprised when they realized that eye-hand co-ordination, side vision, balanced sight, the speed of perception and other abilities are just as important to performance as having ten-ten vision.'

The situation has definitely changed since the Eighties, thanks to the technology that now offers athletes different possibilities for solving sight problems, improving their performance and protecting their eyes from trauma. 'Glasses are the only effective protection against trauma in racket sports' explained Roncagli. 'And they are indispensable in disciplines like skiing and cycling. In many other cases, the best answer is to wear contact lenses to correct any refraction defects, with specific glasses on top of them for protection.' Although there are no detailed statistics on the subject in Italy, 'US data are disconcerting: every year over 35 thousand Americans damage their eyesight during sport and leisure activities. The majority of accidents occurs in baseball, hockey, basketball, tennis and squash'.

'When the nature of the traumas was examined' Roncagli continued, 'they saw that 85-90% could have been avoided simply by wearing glasses with special protective lenses, specifically designed to stand up to hard knocks with blunt instruments. It is also advisable for athletes to wear glasses that limit side vision as little as possible. And since every model has advantages in one area of the field of vision, but disadvantages in another, it would be appropriate to wear glasses with different characteristics depending on the type of sport.'

Lastly, Roncagli's advice is 'not to settle for aesthetics alone, to pay more attention to the quality of the lenses than the color, and aim for materials such as tempered glass, polycarbonate or CR-39, and lines that are designed specifically for sporting activities'.