Evaluation of Visual Skills Between Cricket Players and Sedentary Individuals

Abstract

Aim: This study aims to evaluate the visual skills between cricket players and sedentary individuals of the same age group and to determine that visual skills are beneficial for both competitive sports performance and daily task activities. Settings and Design: It was a sports vision-based comparative study conducted in the outpatient department of ophthalmology for preliminary ocular examination as well as in the cricket ground for sports vision-based tests. Methods and materials: This study carries 200 subjects out of which 100 cricket players and 100 sedentary individuals (i.e individuals who are not involved in any sports activities) participated between the age group of 18 to 26. Participants underwent preliminary ocular examinations in which all those ocular diseases and binocular vision anomalies are excluded. All subjects were undergone the following sports vision test: stereopsis was measured by Randot stereo acuity chart, accommodative facility with +/- 2.00 flippers, saccadic eye movement was measured by Lang fixation stick and eye-hand coordination was recorded by Alternate hand wall toss test. Result: The cricket players exhibited better accommodative facility (p=0.05) saccadic eye movements (p=0.03) and better eye-hand coordination (p=0.01) stereopsis was good in sedentary individuals (p=0.06) confirming that basic visual skills were high in sedentary individuals. Conclusion: These findings evidence that cricket players exhibit better performance in more visual skills in comparison with a group of individuals without sporting background, suggesting an improvement in visual skills due to routine systematic activity in sports as well as daily tasks.