Visual Dysfunctions, Nerve Entrapments and Joint Fixations: The Untreated Barrier to Athletic Performance

You've done the stretching. You've followed the programming. You've seen the specialists and done the PT. And yet, something still isn't moving the way it should. Performance has plateaued. The same injury keeps coming back. The body refuses to cooperate.

In 41 years of working with athletes across every sport imaginable, I've come to recognize a pattern in these cases. It's not a lack of effort. It's not even a lack of good care. It's that almost no one — regardless of skill level or training philosophy — is addressing three specific dysfunctions that can quietly set a hard ceiling on what the body is capable of: visual processing problems, nerve entrapments, and joint fixations.

When these go undetected, they don't just limit performance. They make everything else harder to fix.

Hi, my name is Kent Johnson, and I have been working with Dr. Steven Gautreau at LA Sports Performance Care (LASPC) for the past 20 years. And throughout the years, we’ve have seen every sport performance trend, gimmick and technique you can think of to improve an athlete’s performance and recover from injuries with various degrees of success. Regardless of the practitioner’s skill set or education, we rarely see anyone focus or properly address visual processing dysfunctions, nerve entrapments or joint fixations collectively in ways that can truly enhance an athlete’s performance! If an athlete or individual has struggled to resolve unhealthy muscle tension, suffers from chronic injuries or has plateaued in their sport, they most likely have a visual dysfunction, nerve entrapment or joint fixation that results in noteworthy muscle imbalances and weakness. And if these dysfunctions are not addressed early enough, the athlete will create a movement matrix that has “holes” in it, which can result in a hard ceiling regarding sports performance for that athlete. In other words, regardless of how much you stretch, workout, diet or do exercises given to you by other medical professionals, you will struggle to achieve progress with your athletic endeavors or improve your fitness level. This applies to novice or elite athletes. Today we’re going to discuss visual dysfunctions first.

You probably are asking what is considered a visual dysfunction? The visual dysfunctions we’re concerned about here at LASPC are Convergence Insufficiency (CI) which is a common binocular vision disorder where the eyes have trouble turning inward to focus on close objects, causing eye strain, headaches, double vision, and difficulty reading. It often affects children and students, with symptoms including words "swimming" on the page or skipping lines. This condition also results in the inability to converge on an object and determine how fast the object, or you are moving in relation to that object (towards and away). Gaze Fixation (GF), the ability to rapidly move your eyes or head independently, side to side or up and down while fixating on an object. Depth Proception Dysfunction (DPD), the inability to accurately judge the distance between objects or accurately assess that object’s position in space. Or Visual Processing Disorder (VPD) is a neurological condition where the brain struggles to interpret visual information sent by the eyes, despite normal (20/20) vision. Symptoms include difficulties with reading, writing, spelling, spatial awareness, and hand-eye coordination, this condition is often associated with CI.

One would ask how does having problems with my vision affect my athletic performance? There is a system called the Neuro-Postural-Control System (NPCS). It is your three-dimension postural awareness map. The hierarchy is Vision, Vestibular System and Joint Proprioception (which includes your musculo-skeletal system). Up to 70 percent of your postural awareness can come from vision alone! People who have scoliosis, curvature the spine, or individuals who can’t stand up straight all have problems with their vision because their eye aren’t properly fixated on the horizon!  If their eyes are telling them that the horizon is slanted or crooked, then their body will be adjusting to inaccurate data about their surroundings or environment. Another example of how visual dysfunctions can adversely affect athletic performance is baseball or softball players when they’re batting. If that athlete struggles with Convergence Insufficiency (CI), especially if their eyes converge on an object too fast, in this case the ball, they’ll think the ball is moving towards them faster than it is and they’ll swing early. If they have problem with converging late, they’ll swing the bat late after the ball has already moved past them.  So, if you’re having significant problems with your vision, then everything else can be adversely affected. Patients or athletes can have these problems and not be aware of them. There are numerous visual therapy exercises that we can prescribe here are LASPC to correct your visual deficiencies.

The first step is a detailed comprehensive medical exam, medical history, sports history and functional assessment that reveals any issues with visual processing dysfunctions, vestibular-ocular motor problems, nerve tension, joint fixations, muscle imbalances (Weak vs Strong muscles) and any poor training practices. Once we identify any dysfunctions, we address them in order of priority, visional processing dysfunctions or vestibular-ocular motor reflex problems first. Then we do a very thorough Long Tract Nerve Release Protocol on all nerves that may negatively affect joints and muscles that are in question. Doing this protocol releases muscles and joints faster than any other soft tissue medical protocol being used. After that, we employ the Storz Medical EPAT Machine to release and heal tissue up to 8 inches in the body. And we then use the Pulse PEMF machine that penetrates joints and muscles even deeper than EPAT. The PEMF is an incredible medical breakthrough and has resolved conditions in our patients like never before! This is followed by joint mobility drills and lastly strengthening and conditioning exercises to correct muscle imbalances.