Effects Of Home-Based Convergence Insufficiency Vision Therapy On Accommodation Among School Going Children

Abstract

Background: Convergence and accommodation are always yoked together and any adjustment on the former affects the later. The most effective treatment for convergence insufficiency (CI) is vision therapy.

Aim/Purpose: To determine the effects of home-based vision therapy on accommodation in school-going with CI attending the Masinde Muliro University Academic Vision Center in Kenya.

Methods: A clinical experimental design involving 23 participants with the mean age of 14±2.4 years, were recruited into the study, however, only 18 were assessed after the therapy. The study took 9 weeks thus majority lost contact while others moved out of the town. Home-based vision therapy which is undertaken at home using a pencil or broke strings. During the therapy, accommodative values were monitored which were; negative relative accommodation, positive relative accommodation, dynamic accommodation, accommodative facility and near point of accommodation. Paired t-test used to compare mean values before and after the therapy.

Results: The mean value of negative relative accommodation (NRA) before and after home-based therapy was statistically significant (p=0.01). However, the mean values before and after home-based therapy for the near point of accommodation (NPA), dynamic (Lag), relativity (PRA) and facility (MAF) showed no difference (p> 0.05). The mean value of the NRA before and after office-based vision therapy was statistically significant (p=0.01).

Conclusion: The use of home-based vision therapy for the patients with CI had significant effects on accommodation changing from a lower limit to average after the therapy.