tri1976

Hi folks,

I am not sure if anyone can assist me or not but figured I would ask. I have come to realize, or perhaps more specifically think about, how my vision is influencing my cycling (and generally my gait). I have good vision in my right eye, but very limited vision in my left. As I have developed as a triathlete over the last several years, I have noticed that I develop all injuries on my left side and when I cycle, my right side bears the brunt of the "damage" from sitting on a saddle for hours. I hadn't given this much thought until recently and now, I am wondering, specifically with cycling, whether I lean to the right because that is the side that I see out of and thus, put more pressure on my pelvis on that side. Clearly, my right side is dominant, and I know that is not unusual to have a dominant side (I am right-handed). I have no idea however, whether my vision imbalance is influencing any of this, and I have no idea who to ask about whether my suspicion is right, and what to do to fix it. Are their sports docs who specialize in working with athletes who have vision differences? If anyone on here has any thoughts, experiences, or referrals, I would greatly appreciate hearing from you.

Cheers for any help you can offer.

10 Wheels

Ask an Eye Doctor.

tri1976

I did as an eye doctor. I've asked two and they don't know.

Juan Foote

It certainly could be possible that you are leaning towards/favoring one side to see better and putting an uneven distribution of weight on one side of the saddle. I can't really say, from a fit standpoint, what slightly turning the saddle nose might do to help or hinder with other issues.

10 Wheels

Eye problem are related to The Brain.

If one eye sees something different than the other eye The Brain will adjust the muscles to compensate for the difference.

I had Double Vision after a accident and surgery. My left eye was seeing the sidewalks as different Level compared to my good eye.

My brain was telling my Left Leg the sidewalk was unlevel. It wasn't, brain was reading what the left eye was seeing.

rm -rf

With limited vision in one eye, it seems that you would just turn your head a little, instead of twisting your body?

My first reaction was: you might have a leg length difference. For example, see this other recent thread post.

tri1976

I had my legs measured when I developed injuries from running and they are the same length. I do lift my left hip slightly when I ride, which throws off all the measurements when I have a bike fit. I am just not sure how much of all this is related to sight (and the brain's adjustments). I will check out the other thread though, thanks.

FBOATSB

You seem to have answers in your own post. You are a developed triathlete; do you have or consult with a coach or trainer?

Are there sports docs who specialize in working with athletes who have vision differences? Of course there must be. If you post your location or nearest city surely someone who lives near can recommend. All us old guys know lots of docs

Vision loss in one eye? Was the cause injury or illness?

Wish you all the best!

tri1976

Yes, I do have a coach but don't feel great talking about it and i don't think he'd know. I am in Denver, Colorado. I tried googling sports docs who have specialty in athletes with vision concerns but didn't turn up much. I have had the issue, no known cause, since I was 18 months old. Thank you all for your feedback.

FBOATSB

Ahh, Denver, I was in Colorado Springs for a while years ago, my next suggestion would be to start a thread here:
Mountain - Plains - Bike Forums and ask all the Denverites specifically about cycling specific sports medicine practitioners. My uneducated guess would be something related to depth perception or eye/brain communication related to cadence technique/bike fit. Best of luck!

Unfortunately, this subforum doesn't get a great deal of traffic