Larry Fitzgerald and Vision Therapy

Larry Fitzgerald Speaks About Vision Therapy

Wide Receiver Larry Fitzgerald's team didn't win the Superbowl last year, but his phenomonal ability to catch a football drew raves from fans and opponents.


But at least one expert believes that Fitzgerald's vision may be at the core of his success - and credits the time spent at his grandfather's optometry practice as a child.

Well developed visual skills allow Fitzgerald to actually "see" the ball's destination in his mind - and coordinate that position with his body - an extraordinary case of how vital vision is to athletes as well.


By REED ALBERGOTTI, The Wall Street Journal

While they're not over yet, this year's National Football League playoffs have already produced one spectacle for the ages: the remarkable ability of Arizona Cardinals' wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald to pluck passes out of the sky.

As the Cardinals prepare to face Philadelphia in Sunday's NFC championship game, Mr. Fitzgerald's acrobatics are the talk of the NFL. They have also stirred up a mystery: in photographs, Mr. Fitzgerald can often be seen doing something almost unfathomable: making catches with his eyes closed. "I don't understand it myself," he says.

On paper, Mr. Fitzgerald is not an extraordinary athlete. He's not the tallest receiver in the NFL or the best leaper. His 40-yard-dash time of 4.63 seconds at the 2004 NFL scouting combine is mediocre for the position. To explain his 1,431 yards receiving this season and his ability to haul in footballs with one hand or hold on to them while being pounded by defenders, most analysts say he must have soft hands, great timing or excellent body positioning.

But after 20 years of studying the eyes of elite athletes, and after taking into account two unusual opportunities Mr. Fitzgerald had as a child, one prominent researcher believes his catching talent has less to do with his hands and feet than his eyes and brain. The two catalysts for Mr. Fitzgerald's success may, in fact, be his stint as a teenage ballboy for the Minnesota Vikings and the summer days he spent at his grandfather's optometry clinic.
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BERNSTEIN CENTER COMMENTS:
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Z.R.'s "lazy eye" was caused by strabismus (wandering eye), a medical condition affecting the Visual Information Gathering System (the eyes themselves). But the medical condition also caused her to have amblyopia (lazy eye) - a misfunction of the Visual Information Processing System (the brain and entire system which processes input from the eyes). The physical symptom (wandering eye when she was tired) was also contributing to her coordination problems - the brain was ignoring the input from the lazy eye - causing depth perception and coordination problems.

Vision Therapy was able to make great improvements in both conditions - and dramatically changed her visual performance. It is not unusual for patients to have several related "causes" to their visual problem.

A comprehensive eye exam and vision therapy are very useful tools in diagnosing the right condition(s) and recommending the correct course of vision therapy. Vision Therapy is a series of therapeutic sessions and eye training exercises specifically designed for each patient's condition.

9:00am - 5:30pm 9:00am - 5:30pm 9:00am - 12:30pm 9:00am - 5:30pm 9:00am - 12:30pm Closed Closed optometrist # # # https://goo.gl/maps/zEfF4ikZ6ydTJ5QEA 1133 Westchester Avenue, Suite N008 White Plains NY 10605