3 exercises to improve Eye-hand coordination

Many people are naturally gifted with the skill of eye-hand coordination, but it is a skill that can also be learned. Many athletes that have visited our clinic told us how to do it with easy exercises that you can do at home. We are sure they will help you to achieve the goal of improving your eye-hand coordination.

Exercises to improve eye-hand coordination

What does eye-hand coordination mean?

Eye–hand coordination is an important visual motor function that facilitates goal-directed use of the arm, hand, and fingers to produce controlled, accurate, and rapid movements. In other words, is the ability to do activities that require the simultaneous use of your hands and eyes. Proper eye-hand coordination reduces body’s response time to a fraction of a second, which will definitely improve your game (very useful in sports).

Training your eye-hand coordination will make you better at throwing, catching, and hitting. This enables you to be more successful in sports such as tennis, cricket, netball, table-tennis, basketball, baseball, hockey, rugby and much more.

Exercises to improve eye-hand coordination:  

1. Throw and catch  

It is a great way to train your eye-hand coordination and peripheral vision. All you need is a ball, and a throwing partner.

• You can start from a short distance till you’re comfortable catching the ball with your hands.
• Once you’re warmed up lengthen the distance and increase the throwing speed.  As you increase speed you train the response time and eye-hand skills.
•  To train your peripheral vision, ask your partner to toss the ball overhead or towards your sides. This will help your spatial awareness.

 If you don’t have a partner to play with, you can try this:

2. Medicine ball throws 

These fitness balls are a must-have accessory if you want to improve your coordination and balance.

• Stand with your feet shoulder width apart, elbows flexed, and a ball in front of your chest.
•  Squat keeping your back straight and gaze forward.
•  Push on heels to stand and throw the ball up.
• Grab the ball when it is closed to your chest and repeat.
•  Alternative: throw ball against wall.

3. Juggle

Juggling also helps you shortening your response time. It requires you to simultaneously focus on multiple airborne items while keeping track of what’s cycling through your hands without actually glancing at them. When juggling you are actually looking up to the upper point where the balls cross and your brain is making decisions on where your hands need to move based on that. 

• Get 3 balls 
• Hold 2 balls in your dominant hand and 1 in the other.
• Stand with your elbows bent 90 degrees with your palms facing up and look straight forward.
• Gently toss the first ball that is in your dominant hand into the air. It should go at your eye level. (Once you improve, you will be able to throw it higher).
• With the same gentle toss, throw the ball in your opposite hand into the air immediately after.
• Then, toss the third ball that’s left in your dominant hand into the air. (There should be a brief moment in which all 3 balls are in the air).
• Catch the balls in the order you threw them with the opposite hand from which you threw them.

 Training your sight helps improve your performance. It also improves stability and concentration. Don’t worry if you can’t do it right at the beginning, all of us need thousands of repetitions to improve a skill. Utilizing supplements that have benefits, such as providing Higher Concentration, can also help you in your pursuit of learning a new skill or improving your performance. 

We hope this information is useful. If you need advice or have any questions about our treatments, please contact us. You can find us in Mill Hill Broadway and Islington. We are always glad to help.

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References 

www.physiopedia.com

www.technogym.com