PADULA INSTITUTE OF VISION

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

Cerebrovascular Accident (CVa)

Autism

Cerebral Palsy (CP)

Multiple Sclerosis (MS)

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFIDS)

A TBI and a CVA are sudden and devastating. Research performed by Dr. Padula and others have shown that often there are visual problems that occur after a head injury or CVA that can interfere with balance, movement, coordination, attention, concentration, and reading ability. Frequently, persons who have had a TBI or CVA will experience double or blurred vision, blind spots, movement of the floor and/or other stationary objects, and in some cases even hallucinations.  Dr. Padula has named this particular type of vision problem that occurs after a TBI or CVA (Padula) Post Trauma Vision Syndrome (PTVS). This syndrome if untreated can, in many cases, greatly interfere with rehabilitation of cognitive and neuro-motor function.

A neuro-optometric evaluation will analyze the profound relationship of the visual process to balance, posture, movement, position sense, cognitive processing and memory. The evaluation includes a careful analysis of how the person uses a portion of the visual system, the ambient visual process, to support balance and posture. After a TBI or CVA, instability that occurs in this peripheral vision system causes interference with fixation, tracking, focusing, and eye teaming (use of the two eyes together).

Physical Disabilities

Whether a person has a physical disability caused by a TBI, CVA, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis or other congenital or acquired neuro-motor problems, visual imbalances and distortions can actually reinforce the particular physical disability. It has been found that frequently a neuro-motor disability will cause a shift in the perceived concept of the child's or adult's awareness of their visual midline. The visual midline is produced by the matching or visual information with sensory-motor information to give the person an awareness of the center of their body.

A shift of the visual midline is caused by a dysfunction of the ambient visual process. It has been called The (Padula) Visual Midline Shift Syndrome. This midline shift reinforces postural imbalances causing the person to lean to one side, forward (flexion), or backward (extension) because the concept of visual midline is displaced.

Therapeutic use of lenses and prisms can help to stabilize the disrupted peripheral or ambient visual process. Through use of special yoked prisms the visual concept of midline can be reoriented thereby causing the person to improve their posture and balance. The use of these therapeutic yoked prisms has also been found to affect the physical states of muscle spasticity. The use of special lenses, yoked prisms and/or other optical aids are not meant to take the place of physical or occupational therapies. Instead, these devices are often recommended to be used in conjunction with these therapies. Through a multi-disciplinary approach of using therapeutic lenses and/or yoked prisms it has been found that the rehabilitation of the physically disabled child or adult can be more complete and efficient, enabling the person to achieve a greater potential in the least amount of time.

Occupational therapy services will be integrated with neuro-optometric rehabilitation services as necessary.

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