Visual, DEVELOPMENTAL & EDUCATIONAL Services for your entire family

 

​The Center for Visual Management

FOSTERING Clinical EXPERTISE, RESEARCH & EDUCATION​

                                           Motion Sickness & Vertigo

Motion sickness and vertigo are physiological conditions

that occur as a result of disequilibrium between the visual

and vestibular labrythinths. The sensations are subject to

neural and perceptual mismatches between self and

space-world. Consequences of instability in peripheral

channels include nausea, dizziness, loss of balance, posture

and motor coordination.

Dr Kaplan, the founder of our center was one of the first

to publish the correlation of ambient vision dysfunctions

eliciting motion sickness and vertigo and in his book,

Seeing Through New Eyes he offers a great analogy:

“Early on I realized, and the literature reaffirmed to me, that the nervous system works much like a telephone system, in that incoming and outgoing “calls” are made from one sensing system to the other. This means that while vestibular input can alter visual processing (as is the case of motion sickness, in which a disturbance in the vestibular system in the inner ear causes disturbances in visual perception), the reverse is also true: changes in the visual system can influence the vestibular system. In testing this concept, I indeed found that the use of directive yoked prisms could stabilize eye movements, which in turn could stabilize the vestibular system. This finding , moreover, was true for patients of all ages.”
 
Prevalence of Motion Sickness & Vertigo
According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), about 40 percent of people in the United States will experience motion sickness and/or vertigo symptoms at least once in their lifetime.
 
Treatment of Motion Sickness & Vertigo

Our office has a long history of examining and treating patients who experience motion sickness and/or vertigo, utilizing yoked prism lenses and if warranted, a visual management program. For more information on our examination and treatment methods, please refer to our publications section or feel free to call our office.