Anne Dickins is one of Paralympic Team GB’s many success stories from Rio 2016. Dickins was an accomplished endurance cyclist prior to sustaining a back injury in 2011. This left Dickins with a permanently weakened leg and meant she was unable to continue endurance cycling. However, after a chance meeting with a GB Paralympic coach at the London 2012 Olympics, she was invited to try canoeing. Dickins found she had a natural aptitude for it but there was one underlying and major problem. She suffered from severe sea and motion sickness – even a small swell would affect her performance.
She saw optometrist, Jonathan Kerr, at his practice in Oxted, Surrey, in August 2015. Dickins told him her history and the problems she was still having with canoeing and seasickness. She complained of difficulty with tracking, associated disorientation and sickness while on the water. Kerr ascertained she suffered from car sickness and had photosensitivity and pattern glare. Following on from this diagnosis, her motion sickness symptoms were significantly reduced by closing her eyes. Obviously having to close her eyes during a canoeing race was not practical for Dickins so another solution was sought. Upon investigation she was found to have an incomitant phoria breaking down to some diplopia on dextroversion, scopotic sensitivity with central retinal rivalry. It was concluded this was a significant causative factor for her remaining ocular-related motion imbalance.
Kerr prescribed her an appropriate spectacle correction combined with prismatic correction and a bespoke coloured filter with UV protection, which was incorporated into Bolle sport sunglasses. The results were better than anticipated and an immediate improvement in her performance was noted.
Dickins then undertook a desensitisation programme, normally used by RAF fighter pilots, and saw many specialists with numerous investigations. It was concluded she had a vestibular disorder whereby ‘her eyes and ears did not connect properly’. This treatment was also very successful and in combination with her prescription from Kerr, Dickins looked forward to Rio confident she had a good chance of overcoming the motion sickness problem.
In the build-up up to the Paralympics Dickins won the European Paracanoe Championship in Milan in 2015 and the World Paracanoe Championship in 2016. She then went on to thrill the nation with her gold medal performance at the inaugural Paracanoe 200m KL3 class at Rio 2016 in a very close finish.
Dickins sent Kerr a text after the race: ‘The glasses were awesome! The waves on the lake were as predicted, exactly the wrong kind – but I coped thanks to my glasses. :-) !!Thank you !!’