By Dr. Antonio Parolisi
This brief discussion of ocular gymnastics, obviously, aims only to inform readers of the existence of parts of our bodies that we often tend not to consider due to negligence or lack of knowledge. The eyes are a precious heritage, so it is good to consider Visual Training not as a simple workout but a real "treatment", which is why the evaluation and prescription of such exercises is always a good rule that it comes from an Ophthalmologist. Only then, on the advice of the Specialist, you can also train daily and monitor the progress made with simple tests.
In the fascinating world of Fitness, a science is made available with methods that allow an individual to safeguard and protect their bodily integrity in the full context of Wellness, therefore of psychophysical well-being. This world, is invaded by subjects that aim to recover the best state of possible form, reducing the body fat and increasing the musculature in a symmetrical and proportionate way.
Being a "fit" subject, however, also means taking care of your body not only with purely aesthetic purposes but also and above all with a view to functionality and well-being; or at least it should be so ...; if this were not the case there would be no difference between Sport and Wellness, which in most cases, in fact, do not go hand in hand at all.
If you ask any practitioner of a fitness club, what is the pectoral muscle, without thinking about it in the slightest it will indicate the origin and insertion of this muscle to perfection, same thing for the biceps, triceps, etc. or for women the buttocks or hips ...
All this, obviously, because the search for training, and therefore for improving the characteristics of these body areas, is the main objective in a training program. If, however, the same people are referred to as the superior or rectus inferior rectus muscle, or lateral or medial rectus, or of superior or inferior oblique, it is likely to fall into the deepest silence; in fact these are little-known little muscles that represent those eye structures that allow the various eye movements in all directions and have an exceptional value and responsibility in the static and posture of an individual.
Ocular Muscles
Perhaps they do not have an important responsibility (at least directly) on the control of lean mass / body composition, but as we shall see, they deserve attention and control.
In modern conceptions of physical training, one is increasingly protracted towards the postural situation of the subject and on any interference on the static of an individual that can compromise the overall physical integrity.
The sensory information that comes from the eyes has an extraordinary correlation with the human posture. The interaction of all the ocular muscles allows the eye to look in all directions and put the body in relation with its surroundings. To specify that the curves of the rachis on the frontal plan but also sagittal, are adapted to maintain the horizontality of the look. Consequently, if a visual problem arises, the body adapts to compensate for this deficit. The vision remains among the main parameters of reference in human statics.
In 1985 Herman et al. Demonstrated that sight is the main source of kinesthetic sensation, or the ability to perceive movement.
The ocular system, therefore, allows the movement to be coded, giving the sensation of the environment in which one finds oneself (wide, narrow, short, long, low or high spaces); for this reason it is a controller of distances and reliefs of planes in space.
The small orbicular muscles, despite their small size, must always be well balanced with each other to avoid incurring prevalence of one over the other.
If, for example, in the knee joint the crural ischium muscles are stronger, stiffer and retracted than their antagonists (quadriceps), the knee will be subjected to an articular imbalance that will pose the joint in slight flexion (flexum), with all the damage and the postural alterations that derive from it, due to complex mechanisms of interactions of myofascial chains.
