What Is Visual Rehabilitation?

Visual rehabilitation is a personalized process designed to address the unique visual deficits of each patient. This approach typically involves a team of healthcare professionals, including optometrists, medical doctors, psychologists, neurologists, and occupational therapists, who collaborate to develop an individualized plan tailored to the patient’s needs.

Treatment may involve:

• Occupational therapy to adapt the environment for easier navigation and independence.
• Vision therapy to retrain and improve the functioning of the visual system.

What Is Vision Therapy?

Vision therapy is a doctor-supervised, non-surgical program that uses specialized exercises and tools to retrain the eye-brain connection. Unlike glasses or contact lenses that only correct refractive errors, vision therapy aims to teach the visual system to correct itself and improve overall function.

Some common vision therapy activities include:

• Viewing objects through prism lenses to improve eye coordination.
• Tracking moving objects to enhance focus and eye movement.
• Coordinating eye and body movements for better balance and spatial awareness.
• Using computerized tasks to improve visual processing.

Vision therapy is highly customized based on each patient’s specific challenges and may incorporate lenses, prisms, balance boards, and other tools.

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Visual Rehabilitation Conditions

Post-Concussive Vision Syndrome

Each year, over 300,000 sports-related concussions occur, with many more from accidents and falls. Concussions can cause cognitive difficulties and a cluster of vision problems known as post-concussive vision syndrome. Early intervention with vision therapy can improve recovery and visual function.

Special Needs

Individuals with special needs often face vision problems at higher rates than the general population. Visual rehabilitation and vision therapy can address these issues to support learning, communication, and daily functioning.

Traumatic Injury

Vision involves complex interactions between the eyes, brain, balance, and motor systems. Traumatic injuries can disrupt any part of this system. Visual rehabilitation helps retrain the brain and eyes to work together, improving vision and overall function.

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How Vision Therapy Works

Vision therapy—also called vision training or neuro-vision therapy—is a subspecialty of optometry. It focuses on developing, improving, and enhancing visual functions so the entire visual system works more efficiently.

By targeting eye movement control, focusing ability, eye teaming, and visual processing, vision therapy helps patients overcome problems that glasses or surgery alone cannot fix.

Benefits of Vision Therapy

• Improves eye coordination and tracking.
• Reduces eyestrain and headaches.
• Enhances reading ability and academic performance.
• Addresses conditions like lazy eye, convergence insufficiency, and visual processing disorders.
• Supports recovery from brain injury and neurological disorders.

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Signs and Symptoms That May Indicate the Need for Vision Therapy

• Difficulty concentrating or focusing visually.
• Frequent headaches or eye strain.
• Trouble tracking moving objects or reading smoothly.
• Double vision or eye fatigue.
• Poor hand-eye coordination.
• Challenges with balance or spatial awareness.

If you or a loved one experience these symptoms, consult an eye care professional for a comprehensive evaluation.