Aspetar organised a workshop named ‘Sports Vision Workshop’  on Friday at Aspetar Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital. It was aimed to  help develop a comprehensive eye screening initiative to assist athletes reach their full potential.
Aspetar’s acting chief medical officer, Dr Hakim Chalabi, said, “We are holding the workshop because we believe vision is a critical part for sports performance and an important issue in Qatar. This is the first time vision performance has been directly targeted by Aspetar and we are working with the world’s elite to get a better understanding of all the issues to ensure athletes reach their full potential.”
Aspetar’s director of Research and Education professor Karim Khan stated: “We believe it is important to establish a fact-finding initiative prior to implementing a screening process because we want to ensure we incorporate the most critical elements of eye screening into the programme. There are two key issues; understanding the eye diseases that are prevalent in Qatar, and the relationship between performance and vision.”
World-renowned professional vision experts took part in the workshop, including professor Gail Stephenson, head of Orthoptics at Liverpool University and president of the European Orthoptic Association.
Professor Stephenson is an expert in Binocular Vision and Sports Vision and has been the Vision Science adviser to Manchester United Football Club for the past 17 years.
“Understanding key issues of binocular vision and peripheral vision are important to sports performance,” said Stephenson. “Vision training can help performance in football and other sports because athletes make decisions based on information, and 80% of information necessary to make an informed decision comes from vision.”
Dr Alexander Bialasiewicz,  head of Ophthalmology, Al Ahli Hospital Qatar, spoke about some common eye diseases affecting the population in Qatar during his presentation. He will be working with Aspetar to set up its vision screening programme.
Dr Stephen Targett, Aspetar’s screening co-ordinator, highlighted some of the challenges faced by medical personnel when screening athletes, including difficulties in gaining accurate information.