William Bates (physician)

William Horatio Bates ( * December 27, 1860 in Newark, New Jersey; † July 10, 1931 in New York) was an American ophthalmologist. He became known through a system developed by his eye training, at the time the working basis of numerous so-called orthoptic. The motivation for this arose in the 1920s from the increasing number of defective vision people in the population, especially the school children, the Bates wanted to counter by alternative methods.

Training and methodology

Bates made ​​his degree in medicine in 1885 at Cornell University. As a specialist he realized soon that prolonged eyestrain during puberty often leads supposedly to myopia, and that the vision fluctuates with the daily constitution.

By 1920, therefore, he developed first exercises for a targeted "training" of the eyes, on the one hand to achieve relaxation, on the other hand to strengthen the eye muscles, which he thought that they would have influence on the degree of ametropia. Although scientific evidence of the suspected therapeutic efficacy of these exercises was never provided and these methods are therefore rejected today by the evidence-based medicine, their supporters and users promise nevertheless significant reductions of astigmatism, myopia and hyperopia, as well as other vision problems if the applications would only run consistently. Lens, this expectation could, however, never be confirmed by appropriate investigation results.

Some of these exercises are designed to be easy to learn and anyone directly applicable:

• The Great momentum
• The palming ( engl. = palm palm )
• The regular ( short ) sunbathing the closed eyes
• Alternate fixing and let loose of the gaze (avoidance of " unhealthy " stare )
• Simple exercises of eye movements, etc.

Most of the processes, especially the two former should also serve to prevent neck and back pain in addition to individual practice relaxed vision.

The works of William Bates influenced Moshé Feldenkrais in developing its Feldenkrais Method. In Germany, the procedure of Maximilian Graf von Wiser was picked up.

Quotes

• " Visual defects and even diseases can be affected by emotional stress and pressure. Not our eyes fail us, but we let them down ... ":: (W. Bates )

Writings

• Better Vision Without Glasses. (Better Eyesight without Glasses. ) 1919. Reprint 1981.
• Perfect Sight Without Glasses. , 1920.
• Without glasses to old age '' German edition 1983