September 9, 2021 - One decade... be present.

It’s been a decade since I got sick. I didn’t know then, that night, that my life was dramatically changed. I’ve done therapies, and they’ve...

February 3rd 2016 Vestibulo-ocular Reflex - VOR, and functional vision problems....

I've noticed some confusion about the VOR, based on feedback I've gotten to my blog posts.  So I'm posting some info below which is one of the better explanations I've found online.... this is taken from the Encyclopedia Britannica:

Alternative title: VOR





Vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR), eye movement that functions to stabilize gaze by countering movement of the head. In VOR the semicircular canals of the inner ear measure rotation of the head and provide a signal for the oculomotor nuclei of the brainstem, which innervate the eye muscles. The muscles counter-rotate the eyes in such a way that a rightward head rotation causes an equal leftward rotation of both eyes, with the result that gaze direction stays stationary.
VOR works in conjunction with the optokinetic reflex (OKR), which is a feedback mechanism that ensures that the eye moves in the same direction and at almost the same speed as an image. Together, VOR and OKR keep the image stationary on the retina, with VOR compensating for fast movements and OKR for slower ones.


You can see from this explanation that the VOR (in combination with the OKR) is very important.  This is the main element - to my knowledge - of vision for which your eyes and ears work together so completely. 


It IS possible to have balance problems that are not connected to vision, AND it's possible to have functional vision problems that impact your balance that are not connected to your ears.  For more info on vision, a good place to start is the College of Vision Development - www.covd.org - which is an international institute that provides special training for doctors (Developmental Optometrists), and vision therapists. 


As I've said before, ophthalmologists and optometrists get little to no training re functional vision problems, such as Convergence Insufficiency and Strabismus, two very common diagnoses.  If you think that there's ANY chance you have a problem that does not have to do with your ears, or an eye disease - get yourself checked!



Based on my experience, neural optometrists and neural ophthalmologists can sometimes give a correct diagnosis re functional vision problems, but do not have adequate knowledge re vision therapy.  Again, in my experience, they understand the neurology but not the functional, developmental aspects. 


They may recommend VT, but often don't supervise it.  This means that the necessary individualization and titration of exercises may not be on target.  Finally, as with any doctor, there are less qualified folks out there - if you don't like who you're working with, keep looking!


I'll be posting a blog in the future that discusses flexibility, integration and stamina in relation to neurological rehab....
UPDATE:  here's a link to that piece  - http://visiblepersoninvisibleproblem.blogspot.com/2016/02/february-10th-2016-pieces-and-parts-of.html

For vestibular info - www.vestibular.org


Bookmark the permalink. RSS feed for this post.

2 Responses to February 3rd 2016 Vestibulo-ocular Reflex - VOR, and functional vision problems....

  1. If you are suffering from eye problems and cannot find any solutions, you might want to check out eyemedicsonline
    .It’s a professional eye care practice that provides quality services by experienced-expert eye doctors

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks John but I'm already working with good people...

    ReplyDelete

© 2014 - 2019 Tamar Schwartz, Visible Person Invisible Problem (VPIP). Powered by Blogger.

Search

Swedish Greys - a WordPress theme from Nordic Themepark. Converted by LiteThemes.com.