Stroke is the most common cause of neurological and visual impairment in the adult population. About a quarter of visually impaired people in developed countries have had a stroke as have most of the elderly with disabilities. Vision loss can be partial or complete, but by making some changes to the environment in which you live, with exercises and also evaluating visual therapy, you can make progress in your recovery.
Steps
Method 1 of 3: Exercises to Improve Eyesight
Step 1. Try the pencil exercise
In some cases, when vision loss is partial, the ability to see can be recovered by training the brain through vigorous exercises. These are becoming an established practice during physiotherapy and do a lot to improve the situation.
- Hold a pencil or other similar object in front of the patient's eyes, about 45 cm apart.
- Then move the pencil up, down and from left to right. Ask the patient not to move his head and to follow the pencil only with the movement of the eyes.
- Place the pencil in front of the patient's face and move it towards his nose and then move it away. Always ask the person to stare at the tip of the pencil carefully. His eyes should converge.
- With each hand grab a pencil. Move your hands so that one pencil is close to the patient's eye and the other far away. Ask the patient to estimate which of the two is close and which far away.
Step 2. Drawing and puzzle exercises
Draw commonly used objects and shapes and ask the patient to complete them. He should also strive to solve puzzles, puns and crosswords. These games help vision by re-educating the brain to identify objects through sight.
Step 3. Eye exercises
Strengthens the eye muscles by improving muscle memory; this is also useful for chasing objects with the gaze. Muscle tone is lost due to stroke and must be recovered.
- Place three or four fingers on the upper eyelid and then try to close the eye. This strengthens the orbicular muscle.
- Exercise improves vision, prevents eye fatigue and relieves stress.
- However, remember that all structural and permanent damage to the brain in the area assigned to vision cannot be resolved with these exercises.
Step 4. Get eye massage or hot / cold packs
Cold and warm compresses relax the eyes and have a calming effect because the heat improves blood circulation.
- Dip a washcloth in cold water and a second washcloth in warm water. Alternate them on the eyes every 5-10 minutes.
- An eyelid massage can also come in handy.
Step 5. Rehabilitate your eyesight by throwing the ball
Throw and grab a ball with the assistance of a partner trying to involve the side of the body affected by the stroke. This exercise re-educates the brain to synchronize movement with vision. It also stimulates the movement of the eye and the body on the injured side to solve vision problems.
Step 6. Exercise on the computer
There are computer programs that allow the visually impaired to train their eyesight after a stroke. Each day, the patient must stare at a black square on the monitor. At specific intervals, a sequence of 100 small dots light up on the side of the screen corresponding to the damaged eye. This trains the brain to reuse the eye with poor vision.
The procedure takes 15 to 30 minutes every day for several months
Step 7. Fixation exercises
They are carried out to understand the extent of the damage caused by stroke to central vision. This exercise, performed under the supervision of a doctor or other professional, allows you to determine the best therapeutic approach.
- First, the patient is asked to close his eyes.
- Then he must look towards the side of the body affected by the stroke.
- When he thinks he has turned his gaze in the right direction, he must open his eyes.
- The specialist at this point evaluates how close the patient has come to the correct direction.
- The information obtained is then used to develop a precise rehabilitation therapy.
Method 2 of 3: Therapies and Medical Interventions
Step 1. Learn about visual rehabilitation programs
This type of therapy focuses on stimulating the areas of the brain involved in the vision process. It includes exercises with prisms, optical scans and awareness of one's field of vision. The movements of images that move from a blind to an active area help the patient to adapt to the visual field and related brain areas, thus improving vision.
Step 2. Visual enhancement therapy
The goal, in this case, is to stimulate the neuronal connections involved in the process of vision in the brain. It is specifically adapted to any type of visual impairment after stroke and focuses above all on the eye that has retained the greatest number of nerve connections.
This therapy has the highest level of recovery potential
Step 3. Test the prisms
They are lenses that are used to correct various vision problems. The type of prism and its position can vary according to the symptoms. For instance:
- In the case of double vision, the prism applied to the glasses realigns the deflected visual axis.
- In the case of hemianopia, when the patient does not see the right or left side of their visual field, the prism can "move" the image of the object present in the blind field into a visible area.
Step 4. Consider purchasing low vision aids
They are designed to help people with impaired vision. They are divided into three categories: optical aids (manual and fixed magnifiers, telescopes), non-optical aids (enlarged prints, high intensity lights, high contrast objects, video magnifiers) and electronic aids (closed circuit TV, projectors opaque, slide projectors). All of these items can greatly improve the life of a visually impaired.
Other aids can be tactile, auditory, audiobooks and direct stimulation of the visual cortex
Step 5. Consider muscle surgery
Surgery is usually not the solution to vision problems caused by a stroke, since there is no direct physical trauma to the eye. However, in some cases, it can resolve diplopia. Muscle surgery realigns the visual axes to recover single vision.
- During the procedure the eyes are repositioned.
- The decision to undergo the surgery must be made following a thorough assessment of the benefits and possible risks.
Method 3 of 3: Environmental Change
Step 1. Change the floor
Changing the floor covering, for example from ceramic to carpet, is of great help for those who have vision problems due to stroke. If each room is paved with a different material, the sound of the footsteps changes and the visually impaired can understand if another person is coming.
In addition, the different sound makes the patient understand which room he is in
Step 2. Make the stairs more accessible
Change the model / type to allow the patient to move from one floor to another in the house. Visual aids (such as steps of different colors) are also a way to guarantee the visually impaired some autonomy and to climb stairs safely.
- You can improve the visibility of the staircase by alternating white steps with other black ones.
- The installation of one or more handrails improves safety.
Step 3. Secure the furniture
Arrange them where they don't bother, for example along the walls. In this way the patient can avoid them without being forced to memorize a complicated furniture.
- The edges of the furniture should be rounded and not angular.
- Place sticks along the walls to act as a guide.
- The furniture should be very colorful so that it attracts attention.
Step 4. Install a laser detection unit
Nowadays, laser tools are available that connect to tactile or sound devices. These alert the patient to the presence of obstacles and dangers. Three laser beams come out of the handheld device in three different directions: high, low and parallel to the surface.
