Vision therapy is a type of biofeedback training to retrain how the brain controls the eye muscles in order that depth perception, eye hand coordination, and reading processing speed can be enhanced and maximized. For this week, Dr. Benny Shao shared a couple of common vision therapy techniques that are beneficial for general maintenance and enhancement of binocular vision. The first exercise is the Brock string, which is simply a long piece of yarn with 3 beads attached to it. This activity gives the viewer feedback on whether he/she is accurately aligning his/her eyes at the bead that he’s focused on. It also gives feedback on whether the viewer is using both eyes.
Our next activity is the pointer in straw. When done with one eye at a time, it serves to improve accuracy of central fixation of the eyes as well as improving the awareness of space around a visual target. When done with the two eyes together, we then use 2 straws at a time in an attempt to develop improved peripheral depth perception. Those of us who work on computers all day or read excessively will have a tendency to focus too much on small details rather than allowing the eyes to take in peripheral visual information. So, this is a great way to get the vision to open back up again!
For more info on how to keep your eyes sharp visit SJ Vision’s Facebook and Website.