Everything to Know about Vision Therapy

The eye may look small, but it impacts a lot in our daily lives. It improves the quality of life, by allowing you proper vision in what you do. Even then, very few people take good care of their eyes. In the world, more people are succumbing to vision problems by the year. One of the best places to start when taking care of your eyes is vision therapy.

What Is Vision Therapy?

It is a non-invasive, non-surgical patient-customized procedure that works on addressing several vision-related problems. Vision therapy in Calgary, AB works to improve the visual skills of patients while correcting any underlying problems. To accomplish this, there are various activities done under doctor-supervision.

Ideally, vision therapy in Calgary is a natural way of retraining the eyes and the brain to work properly for improved vision. The therapy is different from using traditional techniques like contact lenses and eyeglasses, to compensate and substitute the vision problems.

Vision therapy near you focuses on the eyes, as well as the parts of the brain that control vision. The goal is to teach or train your eyes and brain on how to do vision-related tasks.

How Does the Treatment Work?

Vision therapy relies on different activities, techniques, and tools to improve vision. The work engages the muscles of the eye to impact change. However, a lot of this treatment is based on the brain.

Researchers show that the brain always can learn new tricks, even with age. The only difference is that it may take a lot more time to train an adult’s brain than that of a child.

The human brain contains a lot of neuroplasticity. This translates to a unique ability to change its structure and adopt new functions as a response to the external influence and stimuli. Ideally, any form of learning affects the structure of the brain, as well as the function.

Visual therapy taps into this understanding. It tries to introduce different external stimuli that will help the brain learn how better to handle vision.

Which Tools Are Used for Vision Therapy?

The most common tools that help eye physicians accomplish their therapeutic tasks include:

1. Lenses
2. Balance boards
3. Non-computerized visual instruments
4. Computer-assisted visual activities

However, you must understand that the therapy is more than the use of special tools. Like any therapy session, it takes efforts from the prescribing physician, and the patient, to achieve the desired results.

Which Problems Can Vision Therapy Correct?

This treatment is known to help improve the eye conditions that cannot sufficiently be treated with contact lenses or eyeglasses. Some of the eye problems are:

1. Strabismus – it is the misalignment of the eyes when focusing on an object. Orthotics is a term in vision therapy that focuses on straightening the eyes. Vision therapy is best for most cases of strabismus, instead of surgical treatments.
2. Reading problems – therapy of the eyes can help improve the reading ability of your child.
3. Eye movement disorders – when the eyes are not moving as they should, it impairs vision. The accuracy of eye movements can be improved through therapy. The results lead to improved learning, as well as reading skills.
4. Near-far focusing disorders – they are otherwise known as accommodative disorders. They mark the problems that patients have when focusing on objects, either those near or those far. Researchers find that vision therapy can improve the focusing skills of the eyes.
5. Brain-related visual problems – when the brain has suffered a disorder, it can lead to vision issues. A great example is after a stroke. Victims of strokes may have problems with their eyes. Thankfully, the brain can be trained through therapy, to adjust the visual aspects.
6. Learning-related vision problems – optometric vision therapy is the way to go for improving this problem. Besides, it will even improve the overall learning abilities of your child.

Is Vision Therapy for Children Only?

A lot of the therapy offered by eye doctors is for children. The reason is that their vision can better be saved at a young age than when they grow older. Further, the brain’s capacity to effectively learn new tricks and information is better at childhood. Children have more neuroplasticity than adults. However, this is not mean that adults cannot benefit. It only means that the therapy for adults may take more time before the results are noticed.