There are certain visual problems that cannot be solved with the prescription of glasses (eye correction). Sometimes the best treatment strategy is what we call therapy or visual exercises but, What does vision therapy treat?

visual therapy

What is vision therapy

We could define visual therapy as a personalized treatment prescribed to develop, improve or intensify certain visual abilities whose alteration prevents a visual process normal

Visual therapy consists of performing certain visual exercises in order to improve visual skills that are altered.

Vision therapy can be used for a large number of visual conditions. Effective therapy requires that visual skills be developed and integrated with other systems so that they become automatic, allowing individuals to reach their full potential. The goals of a prescribed vision therapy regimen are to obtain the expected visual results, alleviate the signs and symptoms of problems, meet the patient's needs, and improve their quality of life.

What is the use of visual therapy?

The improvements seen with vision therapy are in the following areas:

  • Academic performance: Reading, writing, spelling, math, completing homework on time, enjoying reading, independence in activities, less difficulty.
  • Symptoms: Reduction in fatigue, improvement or elimination of double vision, comfort with sustained visual tasks, better depth perception.
  • Coordination: Thicker motor skills and fine, less clumsiness, participation in sports, better balance.

Vision therapy for learning difficulties

In reference to learning difficulties, it is known that a large part of them are due to a poor development of visual skills.

The main visual skills we refer to are:

  • eye motility: We could define it as the ability to direct the eyes towards a point of interest, to follow objects in movement and to fix objects in a precise and effective way. They are especially important in reading and sports.
  • Our Approach: It is the ability to focus on distant and nearby objects and alternate this vision far / near quickly and accurately.
  • binocular vision: Ability for the two eyes to work together accurately. When we look at an object, both eyes must be directed towards the same point and a single common image must be formed with information from both eyes. This process is fundamental to be able to develop what we call depth perception.
  • Depth perception: It allows us to determine the distance between the objects and see them in a three-dimensional way.
  • Visual memory: Capacity to form mental images and store them to be able to use them in the future or to help us form new images.
  • sight discrimination: The ability to recognize and isolate a known image from a set.

Vision therapy has proven to be effective in helping problems of a different nature and especially in learning problems related to vision.

En Área Oftalmológica Avanzada We have a great team of professionals dedicated to complete care of the visionoffering different treatments, as required by each patient, in order to guarantee a perfect development and functioning of vision.

Video of a visual therapy

En Área Oftalmológica Avanzada We use visual tracking systems such as the EyeTracker to perform visual therapy for learning disabilities. This is a video where we can see the system we use in our ophthalmology center.

Problems to deal with visual therapy

In addition to all the aforementioned, visual therapy also helps the following pathologies and eye problems:

Vision and learning

The section of the visual problems related to learning It is one of those that we treat the most in our center. These are generally related to children, although it is not exclusive to them. The main problems we refer to are:

  • Need for glasses.
  • Lazy eye.
  • Problems in the focus system.
  • Problems in the coordination system of both garlic.
  • Dominance crosses, especially eye-hand.
  • Eye movement problems.

The main signs that should draw our attention are:

  • Headaches
  • Rubbing eyes when reading, writing
  • Wink an eye
  • Rejection of near vision tasks especially
  • Low speed and reading comprehension
  • Reverse numbers or letters when typing
  • Skipping lines or words when reading

In the face of any of the aforementioned signs, it is important to carry out a complete eye exam to rule out any vision problems.

Vision and sport

In sports, it has a very important role in vision. Therefore, one of the specialties of the visual therapy and low vision unit is to improve the visual skills of athletes through exercises specifically developed for them. The visual exercises that we carry out to improve the visual abilities of athletes are focused on improving:

  • dynamic vision
  • Peripheric vision
  • Location
  • Distance calculation, depth vision
  • Reaction time
  • Visual contrast sensitivity
  • Coordination eyes - body movements

En Área Oftalmológica We have specific materials and programs as well as a team of professionals, aimed at improving these skills to the maximum potential.

Headache

Some headaches they can have a visual origin and the main causes are:

  • Need to wear glasses
  • Problems of visual effectiveness both at the level of focus and coordination of the two eyes.

The main symptom is that the headache usually appears after having performed visual tasks such as reading, working with a computer ... .., the pain is usually more intense at the end of the day.

It is important to perform a complete eye exam to rule out headaches of visual origin.

low visual quality

Despite seeing small details, do you notice that the image quality is not good?

This may be due to a problem in what we know as the visual contrast sensitivity, that is, the mechanism that allows the object of interest to be differentiated from the background in order to see it.

Some alterations at the level of focus or coordination of both eyes can also cause this reduction in image quality.

All this also relates to problems related to the quantity or quality of the tear.

Reading and writing problems

Reading and writing or literacy problems concern parents due to their recognized relationship with school failure, since they are the basis for accessing later learning. Early detection of both reading and writing problems (from small difficulties to dyslexia) is essential to stop poor learning, avoid school failure and other school problems, and make the child evolve favorably.

Applying the appropriate therapy is an effective resource to work on articulation difficulties and other problems, since they allow us to personalize the work and motivate the children.

Blurred vision

The main ocular reasons that can cause blurred vision are:

  • Need to wear glasses or when the prescription is not correct
  • Problems in the focus system.
  • Problems in the coordination of both eyes.

Ocular fatigue

There are visual problems that can cause what we know as visual fatigueeye fatigue. The main causes are:

  • Need to wear glasses
  • Focus system problems
  • Coordination problems between both eyes

Many of these problems can be solved with an individualized vision therapy program suitable for each patient, taking into account their complaints and needs.

Summary
What is visual therapy?
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What is visual therapy?
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If you are interested in knowing what vision therapy treats, here we explain all the benefits it provides us in each of the visual problems.
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Área Oftalmológica Avanzada
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