The Effect of Oculomotor Exercises With Gaze Stabilization on Hand-Eye Coordination and Reaction Time in Table Tennis Athletes

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of a 6 week oculomotor exercise program on hand-eye coordination, reaction time, visual perception and dynamic visual acuity with table tennis athletes. 50 table tennis players included in the study were randomly divided in to oculomotor exercise (OMEG, n=25) and control (CG, n=25) groups. While the two groups continued their routine tennis training programs, oculomotor exercises with gaze stabilization were applied to OMEG twice a day for 6 weeks via the WhatsApp application. Plate tapping test was used to evaluate the eye-hand coordination of the participants, reaction time test (number of hits and average reaction time) using the Blazepod device was used to evaluate reaction times, and forms A and B of the Trail Making Test (TMT-A ve TMT-B) were used to evaluate visual perception. Dynamic visual acuity test with powerpoint was used to evaluate the dynamic visual acuity of the participants. The paired t-test and two-sample t-test was executed to examine within and between the groups. The OMEG had significant improvements in hand-eye coordination, visual perception, reaction time and dynamic visual acuity (p