| Sumario: | Background: Injuries are common among soccer players in the United States. A possible causative factor is stress-induced peripheral vision narrowing, causing reduced awareness of other players on the field. This pilot study sought to measure peripheral visual attentive fields during non-stress and stress conditions in healthy young collegiate soccer players before and after training techniques (stress reduction or vision training). Methods: Single-blind, randomized pilot study. Athletes were recruited from soccer teams at a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletes (NAIA) Division 1 school. Athletes were randomized into two groups for one month of training in relaxation (n=9) or peripheral vision exercises (n=8). Peripheral visual attentive fields were measured using Bernell Color Campimetry (white, red, green, and blue) under stress and non-stress conditions. Results: 16 athletes (14 male) completed the study. Athletes initially had a statistically significant stress-induced reduction in visual attentive fields for certain colors, including both colors white and blue (p<0.05). After training, a statistically significant decrease in narrowing was shown for the color white for the combined results of both training groups (p<0.05). Conclusions: Color campimetry was effective for measuring baseline peripheral visual attentive fields, with no significant learning effect. Participants demonstrated stressinduced peripheral field narrowing in the laboratory setting, which was reduced after intervention.
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