Strabismus is an eye disorder that affects children and adults. It prevents the eyes from focusing simultaneously. The condition is often treated with a combination of eyeglasses and eye exercises, though it sometimes in may require surgery.
Condition
Strabismus, whose sufferers are commonly said to be wall-eyed or cross-eyed, is a vision disorder in which both eyes cannot be aligned at the same time. One or both of the eyes may have a tendency to turn up, down, inward or outward. The eye may remain displaced all of the time or may turn intermittently. Children do not outgrow strabismus, but there are ball exercises that may help the condition.
Double Vision
According to the Optometrist Network's strabismus website, approximately 5 percent of all children suffer from strabismus to some degree. Initially, children with this condition may also suffer from double vision because the eyes cannot simultaneously align. The brain will attempt to resolve this problem by suppressing the input from one of the eyes.
Ball Games
Simply throwing and catching a ball can help to strengthen the eye muscles, because the eyes have to work in conjunction. They also have to adjust their range of focus as the ball moves closer or farther away. This type of ball games can also help to improve hand-eye coordination in children suffering from strabismus.
Combining Eye Exercises With Ball Games
Children will often have a difficult time keeping their eyes on the ball and may easily become frustrated when they are unsuccessful at catching it or throwing it at a target. In conjunction with ball games, or as a preliminary, you may want to use simple self-help exercises. Self-help exercises can be done at home. One common exercise is known as "pencil push-up therapy," the All About Vision website explains. This exercise involves the strabismus sufferer following a small letter on a pencil with her eyes. As the pencil is moved close to the nose, the patient must keep her eyes focused upon it until the pencil touches the nose.
Optometric Devices in Combination With Ball Games
Optometrists have a range of devices that can help to strengthen eye muscles and improve strabismus to varying degrees. A diploscope helps to teach the eyes to relax to avoid squinting. Bar readers help to increase the range of focus form close up to distant. A Remy separator is designed to exercise the patient's eyes to adjust excessive convergence and allow the images from eye to fuse together normally. There is also a video game available that helps to detect very mild strabismus, or lazy eye, in young children, WCHS-TV reports. The game can also help strengthen the eye muscles.
Member Comments