Use Of Syntonics May Help Patients With TBI By Effecting Change In Autonomic Nervous System
In the NORA blog for Healio (5/8), Robert S. Fox, OD, FCOVD, FCSO wrote, “Specialized therapy with blue light can...stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system when it is has been disrupted by a traumatic brain injury.” Fox said, “After a traumatic brain injury (TBI), the sympathetic nervous system goes into overdrive, and the patient is stuck in fight-or-flight mode. Their sleep is disrupted, and they may experience any number of visual symptoms, including poor focusing, poor convergence, exotropia and problems with binocularity.” He added, “To help treat these and other visual conditions, I use syntonics – or optometric phototherapy – to apply different frequencies of light to effect changes in the autonomic nervous system.” According to Fox, “In-office syntonics instruments, in which the patient looks through a long tube that blocks out ambient and peripheral light, are the most effective, in my experience. These typically offer a wide variety of high-quality color filters and a controlled light source.”