Treating Visual-Vestibular Mismatch

A visual-vestibular mismatch results not necessarily from a problem with the eyes or the inner ear themselves, but rather a brain malfunction that creates confusion in the individual’s instinctive understanding of where their body is in space.   Too often we concentrate on just trying to fix the eyes (or the vestibular) in isolation, without considering the integral communication between them, and the many consequences that can occur when these signals disagree.  Without considering that the visual and vestibular system may be “out-of-sync” from one another, traditional vision and/or vestibular therapy can be quite symptom provoking, slow to progress, and can sometimes be less effective.

Vision, balance, hearing, and proprioception (body’s ability to know where its parts are and how they are moving without looking) can all be impaired if the brain cannot accurately determine spatially where it is.  Symptoms such as visual motion sensitivity, poor spatial awareness, clumsiness, reduced eye body coordination, balance instability, and difficulties hearing in a noisy environment are common. Excessive fatigue, reduced mental capacity, body pains (e.g. neck, shoulders, hips, jaw), headaches, increased sympathetic activation, anxiety, and depression, have also been associated with a visual-vestibular mismatch.