Vision Therapy

What is Vision Therapy?

Vision therapy was first pioneered by optometrist Dr. James Mancini and osteopathic physician Dr. Joseph Field. This specialty technique assesses the lens effect on the cranial mechanism.

Our approach to vision is to first determine whether your current lens prescription adversely affects the body. This is called "visual strain” or “visual induced strain.”  If your current lens prescription adversely affects the body by causing a “visual strain”, we will modify your lens prescription so that the strain is eliminated.

Evaluation can be done by monitoring any part of the body with your glasses on and off. We specifically monitor the cranium and the lens’ effect on the cranial mechanism. Your current lens prescription, if appropriate, should not have any effect on the cranial mechanism. If your current lens prescription has an effect on the cranial mechanism, this will affect the structure and function of the body.

The most severe visual strains can sometimes be present in individuals who have been prescribed lenses or have undergone LASIK surgery for monovision. In that case, the lenses or the eyes themselves are corrected so that near vision is clear in one eye, while far vision is clear in the other eye. In our experience, we have not seen one case where these procedures have not caused significant visual and bodily strain.

When the Field-Mancini technique is utilized and visual strain is eliminated, it is not uncommon for vision to improve dramatically over time, even to the point where someone who has worn corrective lenses all their lives will be able to reduce their lens prescription or even eliminate the need to wear glasses altogether.

Why isn’t my optometrist or ophthalmologist aware of this?

Conventional optometrists and ophthalmologists are not trained to evaluate vision in this way. They are not typically trained to evaluate whether the lens prescriptions they prescribe are causing strain on the musculoskeletal system or how to correct the strain.

When an optometrist or ophthalmologist prescribe lenses, they are asking patients to respond verbally, indicating whether the image they see is clear or not.

Our team is not an optometrist or an opthamologist. We do not diagnose or treat any specific eye disease, including glaucoma, macular degeneration, or cataracts.