Brandon Eye Doctor Helps at Junior Olympics

Dr. Iris Matsukado of Brandon was  involved with group of 40 optometrists and students of optometry representing the American Optometric Association (AOA) Sports Vision Section who performed free vision evaluations for athletes competing in the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) Junior Olympics in New Orleans, LA, from July 29-31, 2011. 

The goal of the evaluations was to ensure that problems in the visual system do not limit athletic performance and to increase the visual performance of the individual athlete.         

The team of optometrists and students of optometry provided evaluations to many of the more than 12,000 young athletes in 21 sports who wanted to know how they stacked up visually and what they could do to improve.

The sports vision specialists, several of whom have helped collegiate and professional athletes improve their sports performance, checked vision skills such as visual acuity, hand-eye coordination, binocular vision (the ability to use both eyes together), tracking (the ability to follow a moving object) and balance. 

“These evaluations are a great health benefit for the athletes and a great opportunity for optometrists and optometry students to come together and learn from one another,” said [Dr. Name Here].  “Vision is so critical to athletic performance.  These evaluations consistently identify visual problems in a number of athletes.”   

Members of the AOA Sports Vision Section have provided sports vision evaluations at the AAU Junior Olympics since 1994. 

The evaluation program was sponsored by Vistakon®, Division of Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc., in conjunction with Indiana University School of Optometry and Illinois College of Optometry. 

For further information on the correlation between eye health and sports performance or to access a directory of AOA Sports Vision Section member optometrists, please visit www.aoa.org, call 800/365-2219, ext. 4136, or e-mail mlflower@aoa.org.