Vision Therapy Myths Debunked: Myth #1 - Vision Therapy is Only for Kids

Do you ever feel like kids get all of the cool stuff? Summer break, toys that provide endless entertainment, and a metabolism that eliminates “diet” from their vocabulary. Well there is good news for adults who are interested in vision therapy to improve visual symptoms on the computer, enhance their sports performance, or who are recovering from an acquired brain injury...

Vision therapy is a great treatment option for adults as well as kids. In fact, the Convergence Insufficiency Treatment Trials included a clinical trial that studied convergence insufficiency in young adults. The results showed that vision therapy was the only treatment option studied that improved clinical measures of convergence insufficiency in the adult population. We see several parents who say “my kid reads just like me”, or “I see a lot of my same struggles happening in my child”. Well good news, binocular vision conditions respond to vision therapy at any age!

We also see a number of patients who want to take a few strokes off their golf game, or who want to be the star player on their softball team. For these adults, we office Sports Vision Training. Sports Vision Training allows for enhancement of the binocular vision system to meet the demands of athletic competition. Many professional athletes train their visual system in much the same way. Larry Fitzgerald, for example, is a successful NFL player and past vision therapy patient. Several universities have conducted studies with their various athletic programs that have shown improved performance on the field. Whether it is your golf score, batting average, or any other athletic measure you wish to improve don't forget to train your eyes to keep up with your body.

Many adults have suffered an acquired brain injury that leaves them wondering if they will ever be back to their previous self. Whether the visual changes are due to a stroke, traumatic brain injury, or another insult to the brain, vision therapy provides a proactive approach to recovery. Improving how the visual system functions allows acquired brain injury patients to resume the activities they enjoy, make progress in their other therapies (physical, vestibular, occupational, etc), and get back to enjoying life. Anyone who has experienced an acquired brain injury should undergo a Neuro-Optometric Assessment to rule out visual complications.

So next time you start to think that kids get all the good stuff to themselves, call and schedule a Binocular Vision Assessment to evaluate your binocular vision system.