Everyone experiences a headache now and then. They’re usually mild and go away on their own. But sometimes headaches linger and impact your quality of life. Finding the root cause of your headaches is the first step toward prevention.
What many don’t realize is that visual problems caused by neurological issues can cause headaches, or make them worse.
At Child and Family Vision Center in Ankeny, we treat patients with neuro-visual problems that cause headaches and other uncomfortable symptoms.
Can Visual Problems Cause Headaches?
Yes, visual problems can definitely cause headaches.
You may be familiar with headaches brought on by eye strain - when your eyes get tired and struggle to function. Symptoms of eye strain include blurry vision, dry eyes, eye fatigue, pain behind and around the eyes, light sensitivity, and irritated eyes.
Binocular vision dysfunction (BVD) is a leading cause of eye strain. It results from the eyes being misaligned, which hampers their ability to work together.
When a person’s eyes are aligned, the eyes can focus together and send one clear image to the brain to process. Eyes that aren’t aligned send 2 different signals to the brain. This forces the brain and eyes to struggle to create one clear image. Double vision, eye fatigue, and headaches are common symptoms.
Binocular coordination is one of the eyes’ many visual skills. If any of these skills are subpar, it can cause vision problems as well as headaches.
Headaches Caused By Neurological Conditions
After sustaining a traumatic brain injury (TBI) like a concussion, surviving a stroke, or developing a neurological condition, many people experience visual problems like the double vision that can lead to persistent headaches. This happens because parts of the brain that control vision are damaged, and the eyes and brain have to work much harder to communicate and function.
The debilitating symptoms of a neuro-optometric insult can make it difficult or impossible to do everyday tasks like reading, working at a computer, and driving.
But there is hope. Neuro-optometric rehabilitation can often alleviate these symptoms, including headaches.
How Can a Neuro-Optometrist Help?
Neuro-optometric rehabilitation therapy can be thought of as a gym for your visual system, where the eyes and brain learn to work together.
Through repeating and mastering several personalized visual exercises and possibly the use of prisms or therapeutic lenses, your eye-brain connection will improve — and your headaches and blurred vision will lessen or go away completely.
Neuro-Optometry in Ankeny
If you suffer from chronic or occasional headaches due to neurological problems, we can help.
To schedule your functional visual evaluation with our neuro-optometric team, contact Child and Family Vision Center in Ankeny today.
Our practice serves patients from Ankeney, Des Moines, Bondurant, and Polk City, Iowa and surrounding communities.