Video Worth Watching: Eye Exercises

[John Hearne]

Not sure if this needs to go in the Origami's Vision thread but I found this video full of good information:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lG9...zAyRw&index=45

[JohnO]

When I was a kid my younger brother was diagnosed with dyslexia. My mom was bringing him to a place associated with Yale University called the Gezelle Institute for therapy or "vision training". While there my mother asked to have me tested. I wasn't dyslexic but my vision wasn't perfect. Being a kid I ended up at every one of my brother's appointments and was given eye exercises to do as well.

I was sent home with a tongue depressor with a minuscule eye chart on the end. That was used to focus on the tiny letters then out at a distant object making the focal shift back and forth for a set number of repetitions. There were a few other exercises I was asked to do but I just don't remember them. When in the office I remember looking into a viewer kind of like the stereoscopic viewer kids had back in the day. One of the exercises with the viewer was to visually merge two identical objects into one. (Sounds like the convergence/"vergence" exercise described in the youtube video with the pencil only done in the viewer.)

Over time the doctor or what ever he was that was seeing my brother and I said my vision was improving. I wasn't using vision correction prior to these sessions my eyesight was bad enough, it just wasn't 20/20. However I remember the Doc reporting that as I progressed through his program my vision improved. I honestly don't remember perceiving any benefit. But I was a kid perhaps around 10 to 12 at the time.

Recently I asked my Ophthalmologist (MD/PhD) about those old bygone days of "vision training" I did as a kid and if there were and exercises I could do to improve my vision today and help with my middle aged presbyopia. My Doc responded that back then I was under the care of a charlatan.

[dbateman]

An old guy by the name of Dr Bates has an interesting book on eyes and eye exercises if you are interested in that stuff it's worth looking him up.

[ST911]

The USAF is doing some interesting work with some of their ground folks with something called "battlevision." It's been in the flying community for some time, but is getting new interest elsewhere. Recent media is focused mostly on use in their SFS units.

Another useful reference is "The Quiet Eye" by researcher Joan Vickers.