Does Vision Therapy Improve Peripheral Vision?
Are you uncoordinated, hopeless at sports, or unobservant? Your issues could be caused by poor peripheral (side) vision. Vision therapy could boost your visual abilities and improve your peripheral vision.
Signs of Poor Peripheral Vision
You might have poor peripheral vision if you notice any of these problems:
- Frequent Automobile Accidents. Good peripheral vision is essential for safe driving. Have you ever had an accident caused by a car or light post that seemed to appear out of nowhere? Peripheral vision problems make it hard to see things at the edges of your vision. Spotting the little details can be particularly difficult when everything is whizzing by you at 55 miles per hour.
- Poor Balance and Coordination. Peripheral vision helps you identify obstacles and objects that could affect your balance and cause you to trip and fall. In fact, your coordination issues could be related to a problem with your peripheral vision rather than clumsiness.
- Reading Issues. You may lose your place easily, read slowly, or miss some words when you read due to poor peripheral vision.
- Lackluster Sports Performance. Do you struggle with sports no matter how much you practice or train? If you have poor peripheral vision, you may not realize that an opponent is sneaking up on you or that your teammate on the other side of the court wants to pass to you.
- Poor Attention. Have you ever been accused of being in your own little world because you didn't notice the same things everyone else does? Poor peripheral vision skills may make it difficult to recognize your neighbor unless he's right in front of you or see the car making a right turn on red as you cross the street.
What Causes Poor Peripheral Vision?
It's not always possible to determine why you have poor peripheral vision, but your issue may be related to a problem with your visual skills. These problems can occur even if your central vision is perfectly fine. For example, poor peripheral vision could be caused by a focusing problem or an issue with eye movement. Your eyes shift from near to far objects to scan the areas at the edge of your vision. If your eyes don't move together smoothly and easily, your peripheral vision may suffer.
Poor peripheral vision can also be caused by vision conditions like strabismus. Also called "crossed eyes," this condition occurs when the eyes are misaligned. Major misalignments are often detected during childhood, but subtle misalignments may go unnoticed. Although the misalignment may not be severe, it can cause blurry and double vision, eyestrain, eye-hand coordination issues, and poor depth perception in addition to poor peripheral vision.
Peripheral vision issues can also be related to aging. Your peripheral vision may shrink by 20 to 30 degrees as you reach your 70s and 80s, according to All About Vision. Stroke, another condition more common with age, could also affect your peripheral vision.
Improving Peripheral Vision with Vision Therapy
Your brain and eyes work together to provide good vision. The eyes capture light, convert it to electrical impulses, and send the impulses to the brain. The brain interprets and processes the impulse and creates the images you see. Glitches in the brain or eyes interfere with this processing system, causing issues like poor peripheral vision.
Vision therapy identifies and treats these glitches with activities and exercises designed to improve the connection between the mind and brain. Your vision therapy plan will depend on the cause of your peripheral vision problems. You might play computer games that improve your focusing abilities or eye teaming skills. Activities don't have to be high-tech to be helpful. For example, playing games like Whac-a-Mole can improve your ability to see objects in your side vision.
If your poor peripheral vision started after a stroke or head injury, vision therapy activities could help your brain create new pathways to compensate for damaged areas.
Vision therapy can help you or your child improve reading or sports abilities and avoid falls and accidents. Vision therapy could change your life whether poor peripheral vision is a recent problem or you've struggled with it your entire life. Ready to find out more? Contact our office to schedule an appointment with the vision therapist.
Sources:
All About Vision: How Vision Changes As You Age
https://www.allaboutvision.com/over60/vision-changes.htm
Medical News Today: Peripheral Vision Loss: What Is It and What Cause It?
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/peripheral-vision-loss
University of Rochester Medical Center: Rigorous Visual Training Teaches the Brain to See Again After Stroke, 3/30/09
Baylor Medicine: Adult Strabismus