Stroboscopic Vision Training in Softball

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center

Status: Active, not recruiting

Conditions: Vision, Ocular; Sports Performance

Treatments: Device: Senaptec Strobe Glasses; Other: Standard softball drills

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT04309188

L20-095

Details and patient eligibility

About

Enhanced sports performance, in our current world, is being pushed at the professional level and down to school-age children as well. Money is being spent on lessons and equipment to enhance performance. One new method to enhance performance is stroboscopic vision goggles. The glasses lenses flicker removing visual information for a brief moment. The claim is that they train connections between the eyes, brain, and body. We want to see if this product truly does enhance visual performance during a softball season for high school girls.

Full description

In today's sports world, every strategy to perform at the highest level is needed. Current literature is demonstrating enhanced sports performance using stroboscopic vision training.1,2,5 The objective of this randomized controlled trial is to measure the effect of a stroboscopic visual training in a high school softball season in comparison to controls. Athletes in the control group will go through normal practice drills for hitting and fielding. The stroboscopic training (experimental group) will use the strobe glasses during hitting and fielding drills two times a week in practice. The brand of strobe glasses is Senaptec Strobe. Athletes in both the experimental and control groups will have their vision assessed at the beginning of the season and end by The West Texas Vision Center. Measurements for vision will include developmental eye movement, vergence ranges, Randot stereopsis test, accommodative ranges, acuity, and stereo scores. On-field performance measurements will be collected for batting statistics including on-base percentage, batting average, slugging percentage, and hard-hit ball percentage in both the experimental and control groups. The current year batting statistics will be compared with the prior year statistics if enough at-bats occurred. In addition, to the vision and on-field hitting performance proprioception balance using the Balance Error Scoring System (BESS) will be measured at the beginning of the season and end for both groups. Our data will provide quantified information for coaches, athletes, and health care providers concerning the benefits of the strobe glasses warrant buying to enhance sports performance. Additionally, we wish to determine whether visual-motor and proprioception balance changes occur after the training.

Enrollment: 34 estimated patients

Sex: Female

Ages: 14 to 18 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• 1. Age 14-18 years 2) females; 3) high school softball

Exclusion criteria

• 1. Prior use of stroboscopic vision training; 2) History of seizures; 3) History of vestibular impairments

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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34 participants in 2 patient groups

Stroboscopic Training Group

Experimental group

Description:

Treatment group, which will receive stroboscopic training during hitting and fielding drills. The glasses look like sunglasses but have liquid crystal technology that causes a flicker from clear to opaque. The glasses flickering will be controlled on the side of the glasses by the researcher. When the athlete can complete a skill proficiently by catching or hitting during training the level of flickering will be increased to challenge the visual system more.

Treatment:

Device: Senaptec Strobe Glasses

Standard softball drills

Active Comparator group

Description:

Control group, which will perform normal hitting and fielding drills without stroboscopic training

Treatment:

Other: Standard softball drills