A person who has suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI) or cerebral vascular accident (CVA) may often experience difficulties with balance, spatial orientation, coordination, cognitive function, and speech. In most cases, a referral for visual consultation only occurs if there’s an injury to an eye or if ocular pathology is suspected. Persons with a TBI or CVA frequently will experience symptoms of double vision, movement of print or stationary objects such as walls and floor, eye strain, visual fatigue, headaches and problems with balance, to name several. Frequently, people will report problems with their vision to rehabilitation professionals and be referred for eye examination. Unfortunately, many will be told that there is nothing wrong with their eye and that it is the effects of their TBI or CVA. Others will be told that their symptoms are not related to their vision.
Visual problems are among the most common sequella following a TBI or CVA, but frequently not dealt with in a rehabilitation model. In order to address visual problems, the Neuro-Optometric Rehabilitation Association is a multi disciplinary institution that provides literature and educational programs for its members. It also serves as a referral source for doctors and rehabilitation professionals who have specific understanding of visual difficulties that arise following a neurological event. A definition of neuro-optometric rehabilitation is: an individualized treatment regimen for patients with visual deficits as a direct result to physical disabilities, traumatic brain injuries, and other neurological insults. Neuro-optometric therapy is a process of rehabilitation to visual/perceptual/motor disorders. It includes, but is not limited to, acquired strabismus, diplopia, binocular dysfunction, convergence and /or accommodation paresis/paralysis, oculomotor dysfunction, visual-spatial dysfunction, visual-perceptual and cognitive deficits, and traumatic, visual acuity loss.
Patients of all ages who have experienced neurological insults require neuro-optometric rehabilitation. Visual problems caused by traumatic brain injury, cerebrovascular accident, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, etc., may interfere with performance causing the person to be identified as learning disabled or as having attention deficit disorder. These visual dysfunctions can manifest themselves as psychological sequella such as anxiety and panic disorders as well as spatial dysfunctions affecting balance and posture.
A neuro-optometric rehabilitation treatment plan improves specific, acquired vision dysfunctions determined by standardized diagnostic criteria. Treatment regimens encompass medically necessary noncompensatory lenses and yoked prisms with and without occlusion and other appropriate medical rehabilitation strategies.
For more information, please contact 661-775-1860. The Neuro Vision Rehabilitation Institute is located at 28514 Constellation Road in Valencia.