Visual symptoms can last anywhere from a day to several years after sustaining a brain injury, like a concussion. Many people deal with dizziness, light sensitivity, and blurred or double vision. These symptoms can be debilitating, making it hard to work, enjoy social activities, or even relax comfortably at home.
At Grand Developmental Vision Institute, we understand how disruptive these symptoms can be. That’s why we are passionate about providing neuro-optometric rehabilitation therapy. Through this targeted therapy, we help our patients regain normalcy, stability, and a better quality of life after a neurological insult. If you or a loved one has been impacted by a traumatic brain injury, contact us to learn how we can help.
Why Brain Injuries Cause Dizziness and Visual Disruptions
Brain injuries affect more than just the area where the injury occurred. Often, they impact the visual system—the eyes, brain, and neural pathways that connect them. This is why many people experience lingering symptoms like headaches, dizziness, and blurred vision after a traumatic brain injury (TBI).
Dizziness is particularly common, affecting 30-65% of TBI patients at some point in their recovery. It often results from the brain misinterpreting signals from the eyes. After an injury, these signals may no longer align. This causes the brain to struggle to understand what the eyes see, leading to dizziness, disorientation, and even nausea.
Symptoms like these are often overlooked in standard brain injury recovery, leaving patients to suffer on their own. Fortunately, there is hope for healing the visual system and finding relief.
What Is Neuro-Optometric Vision Therapy?
Neuro-optometric vision therapy is a specialized form of vision therapy designed to address vision problems caused by neurological injuries and conditions. It specifically targets the brain’s ability to process visual information. A trained neuro-optometrist leads the treatment, using techniques and exercises that retrain the brain to interpret visual signals correctly, as well as improve other visual skills.
This therapy often involves exercises to improve eye coordination, visual processing, and eye-body coordination. We may also use specialized equipment or prism lenses to target specific symptoms. Each plan is personalized to address your unique symptoms, making neuro-optometric vision therapy a truly tailored approach to recovery.
How Vision Therapy Helps Reduce Dizziness After a Brain Injury
Here are some of the main ways it works:
1. Improving Eye Coordination
After a brain injury, eye coordination often suffers. This can result in double vision and dizziness as the brain struggles to blend two images into one. Vision therapy exercises improve eye coordination, which helps to reduce the visual discrepancies causing dizziness.
2. Enhancing Depth Perception and Spatial Awareness
Depth perception and spatial awareness can become impaired after an injury. If your brain struggles to determine where objects are in relation to you, dizziness can be triggered. Vision therapy works on retraining the brain to understand depth and space better, which reduces dizziness and disorientation.
3. Strengthening the Eye-Body Connection
Vision directly impacts balance and coordination. Neuro-optometric vision therapy strengthens the connection between your eyes and body movements. This helps restore balance, minimizing sensations of spinning or loss of stability.
4. Reducing Light Sensitivity
Light sensitivity is another common symptom after a brain injury. It can worsen dizziness and make focusing in brightly lit environments hard. Through gradual exposure and tailored exercises, vision therapy helps build light tolerance. This reduces strain on the visual system and improves comfort.
How Grand Developmental Vision Institute Can Help You
At Grand Developmental Vision Institute in Winnipeg, we provide specialized neuro-optometric vision therapy to help patients find relief after a brain injury. We know that each patient’s symptoms and experiences are unique. That’s why we tailor our therapy programs to fit the individual’s needs.
If you come in for an evaluation, our neuro-optometrist will first assess your vision and overall eye health. We’ll then create a personalized therapy plan to address your symptoms and help you achieve greater stability. We aim to manage your symptoms by healing your visual system, thereby improving your long-term quality of life.
Contact us at Grand Developmental Vision Institute to schedule an evaluation. We’ll help you start your journey toward clarity, stability, and a healthier, more balanced life.