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One doctor’s own struggle with poor eyesight and athletics has helped him become a star in the field of sports vision.
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Dr. Peters OD
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Just like strength, agility, or speed, vision is an important facet of athletic performance. But for many athletes, finding an eye care professional that specializes in sports vision—or one that even offers some type of sports vision service—can be a challenge. It’s a segment of the industry that Michael Peters, OD, has recognized a need to fill ever since his early days in optometry. But his fervent interest in sports vision was sparked even earlier, by some of his own personal experiences. |
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“When I was a high school football player back in the early 80s, they didn’t have good contact lenses available. You had to wear a one-size-fits-all type of pair,” he recalls. “By the time I made the jump to college ball I was really struggling with my lenses fitting correctly and it made it difficult for me to keep up my level of performance. I made it my quest to become an eye doctor and work with athletes at optimizing their vision.”
Today Peters helps direct the sports vision program at Eye Care Associates, a practice with multiple North Carolina locations, where he also serves as the team eye doctor for the Carolina Hurricanes. Over the years he has also consulted for players from the Atlanta Braves, Colorado Rockies, Pittsburgh Pirates, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Philadelphia Flyers, some other teams, and even some professional golfers. |
Dr. Peters holding the Stanley Cup
with the Carolina Panters
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While he has had amazing experiences working with pro athletes, Peters says that sports vision isn’t only about the elite. “One thing I tell other doctors who want to get started with sports vision is that you have to get involved and get out there to build your experience,” he says. “There seems to be this misconception that sports vision has to mean working with elite athletes or becoming a team doctor for a professional team, but that’s not all it’s about. Start working with kids. I’m the team eye doctor for the local high school. I love football Fridays. I’m out there on the sidelines with the physical therapists and orthopedic specialists every weekend.”
In fact, Peters says that most of the time the sports vision program at Eye Care Associates is working with the weekend warrior, not the professional athlete. “We’re in a relatively fit area and we work hard with tennis players, hockey players, soccer players, men and women in softball leagues, and golfers who are in various leagues and associations, or just playing on the weekends,” he says. “Whatever we’re able to do to tweak their vision for their sport, will also improve their everyday life too. It’s important to remember that while sports vision is obviously focused on optimal vision for sports, that the best vision possible is helpful for the computer and other parts of life too.”
Peters adds that the goal of sports vision should be achieving the absolute best vision possible for each athlete. He says that’s where some doctors go wrong. They don’t focus on pushing their patients further. “If the athlete has to blink to really clear their contacts than that’s not acceptable,” he says. “You cannot have a 90 mile-per-hour fast ball coming at you and need to blink. Doctors who want to succeed with sports vision need to ask more questions and really work at perfecting that athlete’s sight. Each eye is unique and that may mean finding a different contact that best suits each eye.”
What also keeps the field of sports vision interesting is that not only every athlete, but every sport, has very different visual demands. It can make one day quite different from the next considering Peters works with such a variety of athletes. He says that the variety of ages he works with also keeps the job exciting. “It’s actually important to first see an athlete around the age of three,” he says. “That may sound funny, but consider the fact that vision forms between ages three and six. If a parent thinks their kid is going to be an athlete, then we should be looking at their eyes as early as possible. So now you’re talking about sports vision incorporating athletes from ages three to 100.” It’s certainly a bigger field than many may have realized!
Beyond Sight
Tweaking eyesight toward perfection is obviously a key component of sports vision, but Peters says that there’s more to it than that. “We also work with athletes who have eye muscles that don’t move right,” he says. “We figure out the problem and then give them exercises that will help improve it.”
Peters adds that there’s something to be said for the “mind’s eye” as well, and this is a concept that eye doctors specializing in sports vision can discuss with their patients. “Larry Fitzgerald [Arizona Cardinals receiver] has talked a lot about how visualization has improved his performance,” he says. “A lot of players actually have their performance rehearsed in their mind, and that can help. There are different ways of practicing—physically is obviously important, but mentally and visually are too.”
And besides optimizing performance, Peters says sports vision may also incorporate components of rehabilitation for an injured athlete. For instance, concussions are a common but serious sports injury that may also require vision therapy. “That’s what’s on the forefront for sports vision right now,” says Peters. “We’ve helped train athletes who have had vision problems from a concussion. It’s something we’re really starting to get involved with and I believe will be a big part of the future of the field.”
From the excitement of working with a big name athlete to helping a young kid achieve their best on the field so that they can pursue a potential future in athletics, sports vision has been incredibly rewarding for Peters. But he says in addition to the satisfaction of helping athletes perform better, one of his favorite aspects of the job has been the community of medical care. “I’ve become good friends with orthopedic specialists, physical therapists, neurologists, athletic trainers and others,” he says. “I care for the eyes of the athlete, but there are so many other parts. It becomes a community working together. It’s definitely been a lot of fun.”
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