Did you know that nearly 75% of individuals suffering from eye teaming difficulties have found relief with vision therapy? Vision therapy services are more common than many think, and both children and adults can benefit from these personalized care plans. The doctors at Art of Optiks are devoted to helping adults and children suffering from vision problems find relief based on their unique needs. Because of this dedication, we’ve had the opportunity to improve vision for individuals of every age through our advanced vision therapy services. Read on to discover how vision therapy can help improve your vision, no matter your age.
Understanding Vision Therapy
Both adults and children can benefit from vision therapy, which is a non-surgical, customized program of activities that eye doctors worldwide utilize to help correct common vision problems and strengthen visual skills. Rather than correcting a vision problem with eyeglasses, contact lenses, or eye surgery, vision therapy is a therapeutic alternative that teaches the vision system to correct itself. Often, vision therapy can be described as physical therapy for your eyes. A vision therapy treatment plan will be created based on your unique needs and symptoms. The customized treatment plan will include a variety of exercises that are completed both in-office and at home. Exercises may vary for each individual but are formulated to focus on the following:
- Accommodation
- Saccades
- Spatial skills
- Alignment
- Binocular vision
- Eye teaming
- Visual processing
- Fixation
- Eye tracking
- Eye-hand coordination
- 3D vision
- Near and far focusing
- Depth perception
Common Vision Problems
There is an assortment of common vision problems that adults and children worldwide suffer from. Vision therapy can help minimize symptoms associated with each vision problem so your quality of life can be improved. A few of the most popular vision problems that vision therapy can help include but are not limited to:
- Amblyopia: No matter your age, you can suffer from amblyopia or a lazy eye. Amblyopia is a vision development problem that is caused by the affected eye failing to attain normal visual acuity. It’s not uncommon for those suffering from another binocular vision problem to develop amblyopia if the symptoms aren’t treated properly.
- Strabismus: Your eyes need to be correctly aligned to see clearly. However, if your eyes are not aligning correctly, you may experience unwanted crossing or wandering. Vision therapy helps retrain and strengthen your brain and eye coordination to improve symptoms of strabismus.
- Eye movement: Reading, writing, computer use, and many other activities require accurate eye movement for optimum performance. If you’ve been having trouble focusing or seeing clearly during these activities, vision therapy can help improve the accuracy of your eye movements.
- Focusing: Clear vision is vital – especially when it comes to your near and far focusing skills. Whether you’ve been experiencing blurred vision or have recognized that it’s challenging to maintain a clear image, vision therapy is designed to minimize troubles with focusing.
Learning How Adults and Children Can Benefit
Many individuals that visit eye care clinics associate vision therapy with children when in reality, both adults and children can find relief through this advanced form of physical therapy. Whether you’re having difficulties staying focused during class, have noticed excessive eye fatigue, or feel your eye-hand coordination is off, vision therapy can help a variety of symptoms.
Adults
It may be surprising that vision therapy is available for adults. However, adults have just as much of a need. Whether you had a vision problem at a young age that was never treated or have started noticing symptoms, eye doctors worldwide have found vision therapy effective for adults because the motivation to improve and strengthen your visual abilities is prominent. It’s not uncommon for adults to find ways to compensate for a vision problem so that work can continue as usual. Luckily, vision therapy is an effective solution that puts your health and well-being at the forefront. Adults in various locations have found vision therapy to be helpful for:
- Headaches or migraines
- Motion sickness
- Clumsiness
- Depth perception
- Focusing
- Double vision
- Reading comprehension
- Eye fatigue
- Eyestrain
- Poor coordination
- And more
Children
The eyes are the way we familiarize ourselves and learn about the world around us, meaning clear and focused vision is a vital component in a child’s learning and overall development. In fact, if your child has been having difficulties in school, vision therapy might be the perfect solution. If you think your child is having issues with their vision, it’s best to schedule a pediatric eye exam right away. During your child’s eye exam, the eye doctor will determine whether vision therapy would be beneficial. Vision therapy will help improve your child’s ability to catch a ball, track a line of text across a page, and more. Eye doctors have found vision therapy to be helpful for children struggling with:
- Extracurricular activities
- Learning disabilities
- Reading
- Writing
- Classroom participation
- And more
Vision Therapy Is Effective for All Ages
Vision therapy has continued to gain popularity for both adults and children that suffer from common eye conditions. If your eye doctor has recently recommended vision therapy for you or your child, we’ve prepared a brief overview that gives you an idea of what you can expect at your first vision therapy appointment. Here at Art of Optiks, we offer a diverse range of vision therapy services designed based on your unique needs. Our award-winning doctors look forward to assisting you with all your vision needs.