Your sense of balance comes from the interaction between the visual system, inner ear function and head position. A disruption in any of these systems can cause a person to experience balance, dizziness and/or vertigo problems. A physical therapist or ENT can often help, but problems with the visual system can cause persistent symptoms. At our office, we can diagnose and treat visual-vestibular conditions.
Signs of a visual-vestibular problem:
- Dizziness or discomfort when moving your eyes, difficulty teaming your eyes, or a visual-midline shift, meaning an awareness of your “center” being off-center
- Vertigo
- Car or motion sickness
- Balance problems – leaning, falling over, or running into objects on one side
- Gait problems – toe walking, or favoring one side when walking
- General discomfort moving through space
- Dizziness
- Swimming sensation with eye movement
Treatment for visual-vestibular problems:
- Special glasses with prism may be prescribed to re-balance the visual system. For many patients, these specialized lenses can provide profound relief and improvement.
- Optometric vision therapy may be recommended if additional symptoms are experienced. In therapy, you would work on eye movement control and eye-teaming in dynamic, real-life conditions.
- Syntonic light therapy may also be suggested, in conjunction with vision therapy, to heal and restore balance in the nervous system.