Stroboscopic Vision Training in Softball

NCT ID: NCT04309188

Last Updated: 2025-02-19

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 34 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2021-04-01
• Study Completion Date: 2025-12-29

Brief Summary

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.

Detailed 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.

Conditions

Sports Performance; Vision, Ocular

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: TREATMENT
• Blinding Strategy: SINGLE

Study Groups

Stroboscopic Training Group

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.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Senaptec Strobe Glasses

Intervention Type: DEVICE

The glasses use liquid crystal technology that causes a flicker from clear to opaque to enhance vision.

Standard softball drills

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

Group Type: ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Standard softball drills

Intervention Type: OTHER

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

Interventions

Senaptec Strobe Glasses

The glasses use liquid crystal technology that causes a flicker from clear to opaque to enhance vision.

Intervention Type: DEVICE

Standard softball drills

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

Intervention Type: OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

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

• Minimum Eligible Age: 14 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Eligible Sex: FEMALE
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Locations

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center

Lubbock, Texas, United States

Countries

United States

References

Appelbaum LG, Cain MS, Schroeder JE, Darling EF, Mitroff SR. Stroboscopic visual training improves information encoding in short-term memory. Atten Percept Psychophys. 2012 Nov;74(8):1681-91. doi: 10.3758/s13414-012-0344-6.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

PMID: 22810559 (View on PubMed)

Ballester R, Huertas F, Uji M, Bennett SJ. Stroboscopic vision and sustained attention during coincidence-anticipation. Sci Rep. 2017 Dec 20;7(1):17898. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-18092-5.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

PMID: 29263340 (View on PubMed)

Mitroff SR, Friesen P, Bennett D, Yoo H, Reichow AW. Enhancing ice hockey: Skills through stroboscopic visual training: A Pilot Study. Athl Train Sports Health Care. 2013;5(6):261-264

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

Wilkins L, Nelson C, Tweddle S. Stroboscopic visual training: A pilot study with three elite youth football goalkeepers. J Cogn Enhanc. 2018;2:3-11.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

Hays JB, Korba BE. DNA from recombinogenic lambda bacteriophages generated by arl mutant of Escherichia coli is cleaved by single-strand-specific endonuclease S1. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1979 Dec;76(12):6066-70. doi: 10.1073/pnas.76.12.6066.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

PMID: 160560 (View on PubMed)

Grooms DR, Chaudhari A, Page SJ, Nichols-Larsen DS, Onate JA. Visual-Motor Control of Drop Landing After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction. J Athl Train. 2018 May;53(5):486-496. doi: 10.4085/1062-6050-178-16. Epub 2018 May 11.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

PMID: 29749751 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

L20-095

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id