Convergence Insufficiency (CI) is a condition in which it becomes difficult for two nearby objects to focus on one another simultaneously, leading to double vision, eye strain and squinting.
There are exercises available to address convergence insufficiency that may help. These exercises strengthen an individual’s ability to converge their eyes, and can even be done at home.
Pencil Pushups
Pencil pushups are one of the more frequently prescribed convergence insufficiency exercises by ophthalmologists and optometrists, however recent research indicates they do not significantly enhance vision improvement unless combined with office-based therapy sessions.
Pencil Pushups are an exercise to facilitate near point convergence therapy that involves focusing your eyes on a pencil held up to 2 centimeters from your nose and held at 2 cm from each corner of the field. The aim is to develop your ability to converge your eyes while improving suppression and coordination simultaneously.
To conduct the exercise, place a small dot on each thumbnail using the tip of a regular Sharpie pen and focus on that dot in front of you before gradually moving it closer towards your nose until it can be seen clearly – when this has happened you have achieved maximum convergence and should repeat this exercise at least five days a week for at least one minute each time. It is recommended that at least 1 minute be spent doing this exercise each day and five days per week.
The results of this research study indicated that most participants demonstrated good adherence to pencil pushup training over 12 weeks, with both patients and therapists rating it highly. Reassessments of ocular convergence ability at follow-up visits produced results comparable to baseline visits.
Pencil pushups offer an easy, inexpensive, and portable method for practicing convergence skills at home. Ophthalmologists, optometrists, physical therapists, chiropractors, athletic trainers and teachers often prescribe them; however they don’t address the root cause of the issue and may actually exacerbate symptoms further.
Treating Concussion Induced Dizziness (CI) effectively begins with seeking professional evaluation and vision therapy from a residency trained neuro-optometrist or binocular vision therapy optometrist. Their specialized knowledge, standardized testing procedures and accurate diagnoses will identify the most efficient course of action to relieve your symptoms of CI.
Dot Cards
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Convergence insufficiency (CI) is a condition which affects your binocular vision – or how your eyes work together as one team – which may result in eye strain, double vision at near, headaches when performing tasks that require convergence, or eye strain when reading near-text documents. If this condition exists for you it’s important to discuss it with an eye care provider if symptoms exist as it could compromise overall vision health and lead to further complications down the line.
A therapist will work to retrain your eye muscles so they focus on objects of various distances more accurately. Your therapist may recommend exercises designed to increase focus at various distances – these may be done both during appointments with them as well as at home between visits.
Start the Dot Card Exercise by pressing one end of a dot card against your nose tip, moving it toward your face until the dots can be seen clearly and focusing on them gradually moving inwards towards each other – try focusing on one farthest dot before moving closer together until forming one image, repeat this until either you can no longer keep the card against your nose, or your eyes no longer converge smoothly enough for smooth convergence of images to form one image.
Dot cards can help early learners develop various skills, such as subitising numbers. By arranging dots in different configurations on the card, children will learn about how many dots in an arrangement represent a specific quantity – essential in developing an intuitive non-symbolic understanding of number that underlies basic operations and supports understanding part-whole relationships.
Near Point Convergence Exercises
This exercise resembles pencil pushups in that you converge your eyes onto a pen or pencil to train smooth convergence – also called smooth convergence – which trains the eye to transition smoothly from faraway objects to near objects. Smooth convergence also improves fusional vergence range which makes near objects appear single and clear and may reduce symptoms of CI such as blurred vision, headache and diplopia.
Your optometrist may suggest this exercise as a complement to pencil pushups. They often recommend doing these exercises at the end of reading or close work to relax the eye muscles and prevent strain symptoms. After performing this exercise, make sure your eyes remain closed for one minute to ensure complete relaxation without strain or pain in either eye.
Dot cards, stereograms or base-out prisms are some effective tools for performing convergence exercises to increase positive fusional vergence range and make performing near tasks easier. An eye doctor in Delhi may recommend specific exercises tailored specifically to address your specific needs and severity of CI.
Convergence exercises should be utilized alongside other visual therapies in order to treat the cause of your problem. Your optometrist may suggest computer programs to strengthen eye muscles and balance ocular systems as well as prescribe special lenses that make reading and other close work easier.
Convergence insufficiency can usually be diagnosed by taking a history and conducting an eye exam, including testing your ability to converge and focus on close objects as well as testing AC/A ratio and near point of convergence. Individuals who have low near points will find it hard to see clearly at close distances; such individuals may complain of eye strain, double vision near, headaches and eye fatigue as a result. Sometimes this condition can even interfere with everyday tasks like driving and reading!
Eye Movement Exercises
Eye movement exercises aim to retrain your nerves so they aim your eyes correctly when focusing on nearby objects, helping overcome convergence insufficiency and permitting reading, computer use, crafting projects and many other activities.
Convergence insufficiency (CI) is a relatively common condition that impacts how effectively both your eyes work together when focusing on close objects, often leading to eye strain, blurry vision and double vision. It often runs in families and tends to occur more when doing close visual work or when tired; moreover it could also happen from working for extended periods at desk. The problem appears to lie with how signals from the brain reach eye muscles.
Your doctor will diagnose CI through a health history and eye exam. A visual field test measures how far in all directions your eyes can see at once and whether the movements of both of them line up perfectly with each other. Your eye care provider may recommend eye exercises, prism glasses or, occasionally, surgery as treatments to manage or treat your condition.
Home eye movement exercises to address convergence insufficiency (CI) include pencil pushups, dot cards and eye movement therapy. For optimal treatment of CI symptoms, however, the combination of both in-office exercises and at-home ones (or an automated computer program that does these exercises for you) may be best; in particular pencil pushups and dot card exercises tend to be popular home remedies for treating it.
Eye movement therapy retrains your eyes to focus on objects at various distances by having you practice focusing exercises with either an eye therapist in their doctor’s office, or with special glasses called prism glasses which redirect light entering your eyes – some individuals require both types.
Exercise may take several months to show results. Although eye strain and headaches may temporarily arise from doing these exercises, this should eventually subside as you continue doing them regularly.
