Welcome to the Better Vision blog where you’ll find information and tips on how to care for your eyes and improve your vision without glasses, contacts, drugs, or surgery.

This post is part of a 5 segment series entitled Myths Behind Bad Eyesight. Click on the posts below to read the rest of the series. Please visit us each month for new posts about eyes, vision, and how to see better.

1. Poor vision is inherited.
2. Vision inevitably deteriorates with age.
3. Poor vision is caused by certain visual activities.
4. Weak eye muscles cause poor vision.
5. Seeing is solely a physical, mechanical process.

Myths Behind Bad Eyesight: Part 4

(This information applies to functional vision problems - nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism, eye imbalances, lazy eye, etc. Click here for information on cataracts, and here for macular degeneration.)

4. Weak eye muscles cause poor vision

The fourth misconception is that weak eye muscles cause poor vision.

Yet, the muscles around the eyes are 150 to 200 times stronger than they need to be for normal use. These muscles rarely weaken. Instead, tension builds up and affects these muscles, preventing them from moving in a natural, fluid manner - their movements become stiff and restricted.

An analogy: If a person is right-handed, the muscles on the right side of the body will be stronger - and more coordinated - than those on the left. Why? Only because they have been used more, not because they are inherently weaker.

The same is true for eye muscles: Over time, certain visual patterns and habits develop, and some eye muscles become stronger and more coordinated than others. But the primary source of the problem is the underlying patterns and habits. And the eyes can be trained to function with new, more effective patterns. As this retraining occurs, the symptoms of visual difficulties - such as nearsightedness, farsightedness, etc. - decrease and disappear.