Martial Arts and Eyesight

Discussion in 'Disabled Martial Artists' started by WhiteWizard, Jan 8, 2004.

  1. WhiteWizard

    WhiteWizard Arctic Assasain

    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?
     
  2. surgingshark

    surgingshark Valued Member

    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 :)
     
  3. Adam

    Adam New Member

    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.
     
  4. TigerAnsTKDLove

    TigerAnsTKDLove Ex-TKD'er 2005.

    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.
     
  5. Dark Blade

    Dark Blade It Roundhouse time

    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:
     
  6. Jim

    Jim New Member

    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'.
     
  7. WhiteWizard

    WhiteWizard Arctic Assasain

    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)
     
  8. Brad Ellin

    Brad Ellin Baba

    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.
     
  9. Anth

    Anth Daft. Supporter

    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
     
  10. rigsville

    rigsville Shukokai Karate

    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.
     
  11. quartermaster

    quartermaster Cat-like, stretchy guy

    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)
     
  12. KenpoDavid

    KenpoDavid Working Title

    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.
     
  13. MichaelV

    MichaelV New Member

    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.
     
  14. Cudgel

    Cudgel The name says it all

    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.
     
  15. cripplefujitsu

    cripplefujitsu New Member

    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....
     
  16. xeviphract

    xeviphract Valued Member

    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.
     
  17. Holgate

    Holgate New Member

    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!
     
  18. Mrs Owt

    Mrs Owt New Member

    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.
     
  19. aikiwolfie

    aikiwolfie ... Supporter

    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.
     
  20. gojuman

    gojuman Valued Member

    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.
     

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