Exercise Therapy in the Prevention and Control of Myopia in Adolescents

Abstract

With the increase in the national economic level, the proportion of myopia among adolescents in China has been rising rapidly and is now a serious public health problem. In light of the above serious circumstances, traditional treatments such as spectacle correction, orthokeratology (OK lenses) and pharmacological therapy have been applied; however, they are mostly passive corrections or carry risks of side effects and rebound. Exercise therapy is a type of "active behaviour intervention" that, owing to its non-invasive and sustainable features in line with the body's physiological requirements, has gradually been added to the myopia prevention and control system. Based on the above, the mechanisms of exercise therapy can be summarized in two parts.First is the secretion of dopamine, and second is the ciliary muscle spasm in the eye.Exercise therapy will also focus on these two aspects. Exercise therapy has some strengths, but it also has some deficiencies; currently, these problems include difficulty in quantifying light exposure, a lack of standardised exercise prescriptions, and low compliance due to academic pressure. In the future, research and applications will focus on developing particular exercise programs, exploring technology that combines phototherapy and exercise, using multi-omics analysis to identify the molecular foundation, and building an intelligent monitoring system. The purpose of these efforts is to transform exercise therapy from general recommendations into a specific and highly effective medical strategy for preventing and controlling myopia, thus implementing the concept of "integration of sports and medicine" and promoting the achievement of the goals for "Healthy China 2030".