Parents often ask me whether eye exercises can help their children see or perform better. It is a fair question, and a new study from the University of Tsukuba in Japan gives us some early, honest data.
What visual skills are
Seeing clearly is only part of vision. Children also need visual skills, which the researchers describe as the ability to process visual information efficiently and turn it into the right physical action, such as catching a ball or following a line of text. These skills, along with balance, develop as a child’s sensory and motor systems mature.
How the study worked
Twenty-eight school-age children in Tsukuba City took part in a 24-week, home-based program by following instructional videos. The program included three kinds of exercises:
- Saccades: quick jumps of the eyes from one target to another
- Smooth pursuit: following a moving target smoothly
- Head-and-eye movements: keeping the eyes steady on a target while the head moves, based on the vestibulo-ocular reflex
The team used a remote monitoring system to record how often each child actually watched the training videos, which gave them an objective measure of how well children stuck with it. The study was published in BMC Pediatrics.
What they found
- Children trained an average of 4.6 times per week, showing that kids can keep up with a long home program.
- Eye-hand coordination improved, and children who trained more often tended to improve more.
- The ability to identify horizontally moving numbers also improved.
- Balance, the main outcome the researchers set out to test, did not improve significantly.
Keep it in perspective
This was a small pilot study without a control group, so the researchers themselves say the program’s effectiveness cannot be firmly established; some improvement may simply come from children growing and practicing. The study also did not look at nearsightedness, so it tells us nothing about whether exercises change a child’s glasses prescription.
What I recommend for parents
- Start with a complete eye exam. Blurry vision, eye misalignment, or a weak eye needs a diagnosis, not just exercises.
- Watch for signs such as squinting, sitting very close to screens, covering one eye, losing place while reading, or headaches.
- Make sure glasses, if prescribed, are worn and fit well.
- Active play, ball games, and outdoor time are natural ways to practice eye-hand coordination.
Our role
Khanna Vision Institute sees families for eye exams at our Beverly Hills and Westlake Village offices. When a child needs specialized pediatric care, such as treatment for a lazy eye or crossed eyes, we refer to a pediatric ophthalmologist.
Vision changes at every stage of life; for adults, there are more articles at Better Eyesight At Any Age.
Source: Long-term eye-movement training may improve visual function in school-age children (Medical Xpress / University of Tsukuba, 10/19/2026). This article is an educational summary written by Khanna Vision Institute and is not a substitute for medical advice.