Post-Trauma Vision Syndrome is a set of impairments and symptoms that are the result of impaired neuro-visual processing. Impaired neuro-visual processing affects spatial orientation, posture, balance, even binocularity (our brain’s ability to merge info from each eye into one single image).

Neuro-visual processing is your brain’s ability to interpret and integrate your central vision and peripheral vision and then pair that with our other sensory systems to give you an accurate map of your surroundings and how you fit within those surroundings. Sounds complicated, right?!

That’s because it is! Picture this: It’s homemade pizza night (which in a perfect world is every night in our house!) - and you head to the grocery store for ingredients. This is overwhelming at baseline. The overhead lights are AGGRESSIVE. You grab a cart to ground yourself. As you navigate towards the sauce aisle, someone comes out of nowhere - you barely notice them because your peripheral vision didn’t pick them up quickly enough. You avoid them with your cat-like agility (even though it feels a liiiiiiittle off), but you’re feeling more disoriented and you recognize a headache coming on from the visual work involved in choosing between 32 different sauces (why so many sauces?!). By the time you reach the homemade dough, your brain is overwhelmed and you’re leaning on the cart for stability. The stress & brain strain of this experience is incredible, but at least you have pizza to soothe your aching brain.

Your peripheral vision is crucial. When you’re not processing it well, you experience sensory mismatch - your other systems are telling you you’re moving but your peripheral vision is not picking that up - which causes symptoms like dizziness, disorientation & brain fog. On top of this, your central vision shows exaggerated detail, and places like the grocery store show SO MUCH detail, which heightens headache & brain strain.

If your visual symptoms aren’t improving with foundational exercises after a concussion, seek the help of a neuro-optometrist or other vision specialist!