Martial Arts and Eyesight

[WhiteWizard]

A few people have talked about this on the boards before and i thought it would be good to get an idea of just how many of us on here have sight problems in anyway from just being short sighted to more serious stuff.

How do you find training with/without glasses or do you wear contacts.

I'm thinking of getting contacts soon for training especially sparring as i tend to worry about them and so do the people in class which may affect the way they face me during sparring. Do you think this may help?

[surgingshark]

I wear glasses, but find training without them better since they have a bad habit of flying off whenever too much sweat accumulates on my head, or if they get hit.

In any case, it's not really that tough. Sure, the other guy's kinda blurry to me, but I can always see whenever a limb is heading in my direction at a fast speed :)

[Adam]

I'm have bad eyevision and I wear contact lenses. They function perfectly, unless at the times when I get hit or grabbed in the eye or get sweat in my eyes. Long hair and large eyebrows helps with the sweating part though. Get some lenses ASAP, or you'll be looking at the world in a spiderweb pattern soon enough.

[TigerAnsTKDLove]

i have glasses and contacts i wear my glasses only at school and i never wear my contacts because my eyes are very sensitive to them. personally for me i find my eye sight is very accurate during tkd without glasses or contacts.

[Dark Blade]

I'm short sighted.
It's a big problem when I'm trying to read anything from a distance.
Might I add for the sake(mmm sake) of it, wasn't Bruce Lee also short sighted?
:cool:

[Jim]

I can only see about 12 inches unaided. I wear contact lenses for training but only for teaching (and learning a new tech). Otherwise I'm happy enough 'fighting blind'.

[WhiteWizard]

do you guys think there may be any advantage in Grappling arts with sight problems as a lot of it is to do with feel from what i know anyway (which isn't much to be fair)

[Brad Ellin]

Contacts for class. Except for when I forget, then it's extra careful while wearing my glasses. But, it's also the purpose behinf the awareness training I do.

[Anth]

iwear glasses for training but have to take them off for sparring so i end up fighting blind. might be getting contacts next week so hopefully i shouldnt get hit as often

[rigsville]

I also wear glasses for training, but when it comes to sparring I take them off.

I don't like the idea of contacts, you can buy `Sports Glasses' from places such as http://www.sportspectacles.co.uk

I also use a short piece of elastic that I ties to each arm of my glasses, this helps keep them on my face when moving about thus preventing the embarrassing and potentially damaging `flying spectacles' effect when moving about.

[quartermaster]

as far as my level of sight is concerned i think i have something called astigmatism in the left eye and short sightedness in the other. i can't really see anything with the left eye, it's all like peripheral vision, when i'm wearing my glasses. whithout the specs i can see great at a range of about 8 feet.
i just take them off to train with. i have learned from experience that glasses are like magnets to footballs so thats probably the case for fists too.
i haven't tried contacts at all but my sight isn't so bad that i can't see the movement of limbs and on a good day i can see betteer without them anyway (except for reading, in which case i can't focus on anything)

[KenpoDavid]

I wear my contacts all the time. Only once during a sparring match did one pop out and stick to my face. My daughter grabbed it and put it in a cup of water and I replaced it after the match.

at close enough range what you see becomes less important than what you feel.

[MichaelV]

I wear contacts pretty much all the time too. I've never tried fighting without corrective lenses, but I feel pretty confident that I could do ok. Maybe I'll try it next time I go to class.

[Cudgel]

I wear glasses all the time. I have really bad astigmatism and can only see clearly about two inches from my face and in the dark despite that fact that i great night vision with my glasses I cant really see.
I used to fight without my glasses but since we use fencing helms when we spar I dont worry too much. even when I gotten into real fights I dont worry aobut my glasses coming off and I ve never had tem get messed up from fighting, sparring a few times and playing sports yes.

I try not to fightwithout my glasses as I also have a very lazy eye and my eyes have different strengths making my depth perception very very bad without lenses.

[cripplefujitsu]

I can't see a thing most days except for shadows or purple-hued after images.....it's all about the sound and the fury, baby. Anybody grabs me, their fingers have just become my ally. At distance, it's all about listening for the weight shift....

[xeviphract]

I'm myopic, used to have astigmatism too and I need glasses for everything I do.

When it comes to sparring though, I wear safety specs. Problem is, they press so hard at the front that I'm left with a red mark and, sometimes, a headache. But if I didn't wear them, I wouldn't have been able to see my opponent make a move and also, my normal specs would have been smashed at least twice already.

If I'm thinking about 'the street', I suppose I should learn to fight in fuzz-o-vision, it's just very scary for me to do that at the school - I can't discern or react to the expressions on the faces of my fellow students or the instructors and I feel disconnected from the class.

[Holgate]

I have to wear glasses all the time to correct the vision in my left eye (my right eye really dosen't need a perscription because at the moment it's incorrectable unless I have surgery) so I do have to wear them all the time, one of the reasons why I don't like sparring, they have to be taken off and I'm then at a serious disadvantage in any fight because I can't see my opponant clear enough until the last minute. I even tried wearing specialist sports glasses which are allowed in TKD competitions in Canada (where I had them made up) but which the TAGB will not allow in the UK, somewhat unfair methinks.

and yes football's are like magnets to glasses as my last pair will testify. 5 weeks ago while refereeing a match locally I got hit in the face with a ball (accident mind you not delebrate) which broke my glasses in three places and left me with a black eye for a week!

[Mrs Owt]

A few people have talked about this on the boards before and i thought it would be good to get an idea of just how many of us on here have sight problems in anyway from just being short sighted to more serious stuff.

How do you find training with/without glasses or do you wear contacts.

I'm thinking of getting contacts soon for training especially sparring as i tend to worry about them and so do the people in class which may affect the way they face me during sparring. Do you think this may help?

I have astigmatism as well as very shortsighted so I definitely wear my contacts during sparring. Opponent would have great advantage because I wouldn't see anything coming until it was near enough to hit me. The only thing I don't like about contacts is that I once got a thumb in the eye and it shoved the blasted thing up under my eyelid. Couldn't get it down for hours. Felt like I had a gumwrapper in my eye! Yuck!

I would definitely try contacts if I were you. They aren't for everyone and sports goggles may be a better option but I personally like contacts more.

[aikiwolfie]

I need to wear my glasses all the time but I take them off for training. They have a habbit of getting broken. My left eye is much worse than my right so it's not like I'm totaly blind. That said though standing in oblique posture with my left side forward makes dealing with attacks very difficult. People just look like fuzzy blobs realy. It all comes down to greater awarness.

[gojuman]

I was blind as the proverbial bat and always wore contacts to do anything. But after about 20 years of wearing them my eyes started to become very dry and the contacts became very dificult to wear. I was constantly losing them in sparring, so I did it. I had Lasik Eye surgery. I now see 20/20 with out any glasses or contacts. For about 6 months after the surgery I was forced to avoid any contact with my eyes, so sparring was out for that time period. I had the surgery 3.5 years ago and it was the best thing that I ever did. One of my karateka friends had the same surgery and he experienced some problems, but lucky for me it was smooth sailing and I would recommend it to any body who has to wear glasses or contacts.

[WhiteWizard]

An update on things on my front i got contacts last week and i'm finding them very good so far used them in last weeks class and i felt a bit more comfortable i used to spend half my time adjusting or cleaning my glasses so i could see what i was doing.

Aparently they are talking about a new treatment for people who can't get lazer surgery like me. this involves them grafting a contact onto the back of the eye so it just becomes part of the eye. Only heard a bit about this but sounds interesting

[Anth]

just an update, got contacts around a month ago and they're canny for training. now i dont have to worry about my spex flying about when i do back-kicks and the like. havent done any sparring yet so i dont know if ill be any better with them.

WW, give me a shout if you hear anything else about that new treatmet because it sounds interesting.

[TigerAn1]

I was blind as the proverbial bat and always wore contacts to do anything. But after about 20 years of wearing them my eyes started to become very dry and the contacts became very dificult to wear. I was constantly losing them in sparring, so I did it. I had Lasik Eye surgery. I now see 20/20 with out any glasses or contacts. For about 6 months after the surgery I was forced to avoid any contact with my eyes, so sparring was out for that time period. I had the surgery 3.5 years ago and it was the best thing that I ever did. One of my karateka friends had the same surgery and he experienced some problems, but lucky for me it was smooth sailing and I would recommend it to any body who has to wear glasses or contacts.

Just curious- were those soft or hard lens contacts? I had hard lenses and had problems wearing them in contact sports. I switched to soft lenses and never had a problem.

[gojuman]

Just curious- were those soft or hard lens contacts? I had hard lenses and had problems wearing them in contact sports. I switched to soft lenses and never had a problem.


They were soft. I never had any problems for years, but as my Dr. said , sometimes your eyes grow tired of the lenses. It is different for lots of people. I thought that I had it made with contacts, but it was not so.

[wayofthedragon]

from what I see.....I think I still have good sight. My eyes don't bother me

[chungmoomonkey]

um i seeen thes like glasses goggles there good cuz if un get hit in em there fine but contacts migh brake

[Andrew Green]

do you guys think there may be any advantage in Grappling arts with sight problems as a lot of it is to do with feel from what i know anyway (which isn't much to be fair)


Grappling completely blind is possible. We've done this, using blind folds.

There have been a few high level Judo and Wrestlers that where blind.

The only thing you have to do is start in a clinch. Seperated you are at a big disadvantage. I think in wrestling there is a rule about that. If one competitor is blind you have to start in a tie up.

You would however need a lot of one on one, or helpful training partners, not being able to see the demonstration like the rest of the class ;)

[Mordred]

I am short sighted with astigmatism in one eye. I wear glasses all the time. When I take them off initially everything is blurry (that is everything futher away than 2 meters) but it gets better after a while.

I do not train with glasses, I take them off, its too easy to either break the glasses or injure yourself with them on your face.

In jujutsu I don't have any problems not wearing the glasses, although sometimes I can't exactly see details of what my sensei is demonstrating, he knows this and will help me out whenever I missed a detail.

[SaiMaster]

I am pretty blind without my glasses and wear goggles in class. At times I have problems with them steaming up. I have a balance problem and use visual clues to help maintain my equilibrium so sparring blind was a total disaster.

When I spar I do have a blind spot that I have had to adjust my hand position for or else I walk into everyones hand pads.

[Chase]

I am pretty blind without my glasses and wear goggles in class. At times I have problems with them steaming up. I have a balance problem and use visual clues to help maintain my equilibrium so sparring blind was a total disaster.

When I spar I do have a blind spot that I have had to adjust my hand position for or else I walk into everyones hand pads.

Hi Sai, I practice from a chair, as I have Cp & big blind spot directly behind the chair. In fact, I've noticed that my push hands turns into Chi Sao the more things get behind me. I taught a very visually impaired student, & realized as a natural solution to the problem that he had to "feel" thru contact my movement. The emphasis on sensitivity might be easier.
Ingat ka, ;)

[KickChick]

For details of various eye exercises, check out
American Optometric Association (http://www.aoanet.org/eweb/DynamicPage.aspx?site=AOAstage&WebCode=SportsVision)

It's a great site with some useful drills.

[Anth]

i know an easy eye exercise:
open eyes, close eyes, open eyes, close eyes. repeat quickly until you fall asleep.

:D