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Why Head Tilt Could Indicate a Vision Problem
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Why Head Tilt Could Indicate a Vision Problem

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Severe neck pain can make day-to-day life very difficult. The ongoing stiffness and soreness is bad enough, but when the neck’s range of motion starts to become affected, the daily tasks you perform without thinking become much more difficult.

Why Head Tilt Could Indicate A Vision Problem

Many people seek treatment for their neck pain through the traditional channels, yet are frustrated and disappointed when they don’t see results. They may frequently be seen by a chiropractor for chronic neck pain because the adjustments just don’t seem to last. Surprisingly, the reason none of these methods are helping an aching neck could actually be due to a condition called Binocular Vision Dysfunction (BVD).

Binocular Vision Dysfunction & Head Tilt

Severe neck pain is the most common symptom to result from head tilt, which is a mechanism the body uses to try and fix the vertical misalignment caused by BVD. Of the many people with neck pain we’ve helped at Vision Specialists of Michigan, almost all of them had a head tilt – yet only 25 percent of patients realized it beforehand! In retrospect, the tilt can be seen in their driver’s license pictures and in old photographs.

In order for your eyes to see clearly and work together effectively, they must be able to work in sync with each other, and for complete synchronization the eyes must be perfectly aligned. When the eyes are out of alignment, this synchronization is disrupted. Patients compensate by tilting their head to one side in order to vertically realign the images they’re seeing. While this often-unconscious response may help realign images, it can easily result in chronic neck pain.

How Binocular Vision Dysfunction Affects Neck Pain

Neck pain symptoms also may be due to certain conditions including:

  • Neck muscle spasm. The sudden, involuntary tightening of the neck muscles can cause sharp, jabbing pains, a condition which is referred to as a muscle spasm. They’re usually the result of overworked muscles and can last minutes, hours or days. The continuous tilting of the head by patients with BVD to realign their vision is just such an action that leads to overuse of the neck muscles and neck muscle spasm. Once the vision misalignment is correctly treated, however, the head tilt resolves and the pressure on the neck muscles will quickly decrease or disappear entirely.

  • Neck strain. Just as the eye muscles can become strained when overworked, the neck muscles and tendons can also become strained or injured when they’re overused. When BVD patients repeatedly tilt their heads, it puts additional stress on the neck muscles, which exacerbates the problem if the neck is already strained. The customized aligning prismatic lenses we prescribe to our patients work in a way that brings the eyes back into sync, which in turn realigns the images, eliminates the need for the head tilt and provides neck pain relief.

  • Scoliosis. While scoliosis is characterized by a misalignment of the spine, it can also have an effect on other parts of the body. Depending on the severity of the sideways curvature, scoliosis can sometimes cause the head and neck to tilt, resulting in neck pain. At times, this can also be accompanied by a vision misalignment. If you’re experiencing scoliosis neck pain and traditional treatments don’t seem to be working, it would be helpful to consult a NeuroVisual specialist at Vision Specialists of Michigan to see if aligning lenses will help reduce your neck pain by eliminating the need to tilt your head.

  • Torticollis (wry neck). Wry neck is the sudden onset of severe neck pain that limits range of motion and causes neck stiffness and neck muscle soreness. While painful, it is usually of short duration. If this pain and discomfort becomes chronic, lasting longer than a few days, a vision misalignment may be a contributing factor to your ongoing neck pain. Our specialized aligning lenses can relieve this chronic pain by eliminating the need for the head to tilt.

Find Relief at Vision Specialists of Michigan

If you have a head tilt, chronic neck pain or are experiencing other symptoms of BVD such as dizziness and nausea, we want to help. Contact Vision Specialists of Michigan at (248) 258-9000 to find out if we can relieve your neck pain by treating your BVD, or fill out our quick and easy screening questionnaire.

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Dr. Sandy DiPonio earned her optometry degree from Illinois College of Optometry in 1996. She is a highly skilled and experienced eye care professional dedicated to giving her patients of all ages excellent and compassionate care. She has a wide variety of experience in binocular vision, pediatric and adult eye care, ocular disease and contact lens fitting. She strives to provide each of her patients the best quality of life they can achieve with their vision through knowledge and education of treatment options.

Dr. DiPonio is a member of the American Optometric Society and Michigan Optometric Society.

Dr. Sally Hoey has been practicing optometry since graduating from Michigan College of Optometry in 2001. During her time in optometry school, she developed an interest in binocular vision, culminating in a senior thesis involving binocular vision.

Prior to joining Vision Specialists of Michigan, Dr. Hoey specialized in the diagnosis and treatment of vision-related learning problems as well as other binocular vision disorders. Her other areas of interest include specialty contact lens fittings and treating dry eye. Dr. Hoey strives to provide her patients with clear, comfortable vision while meeting their individual needs at the same time.

Dr. Hoey had the opportunity to provide eye care on an optometric mission trip to Guyana, South America and vision screenings at a local medical clinic. She is a member of the American Optometric Association, Michigan Optometric Association, Metropolitan Detroit Optometric Society and the College of Optometrists in Vision Development.

Dr. Jennifer Place graduated with honors from Michigan College of Optometry in 2001.

Before joining Vision Specialists of Michigan, she specialized in treating pediatric and adult patients with binocular vision disorders and vision-related learning problems, as well as fitting specialty contact lenses and managing various types of ocular disease. She enjoys working with patients with unique visual needs, and she takes great pride in providing all patients with highly customized care.

Dr. Place has volunteered for Opening Eyes, a program that provides eye exams to the athletes of the Michigan Special Olympics, and she participated in an international mission to St. Lucia to provide eye care to those in need. Dr. Place is a member of the Detroit Optometric Society, the Michigan Optometric Association, the American Optometric Association, the College of Vision Development, and the Optometric Extension Program Foundation.

Dr. Mary Jo Ference has been practicing optometry since 1990 upon graduating from Ferris State University- Michigan College of Optometry, and is certified in Low Vision Rehabilitation. She has worked at Sinai-Grace Hospital systems for over 20 years before joining Vision Specialists of Michigan in 2013 to work with binocular vision disorders. Her clinical areas of expertise include visual rehabilitation of pediatric and adult patients who have suffered from brain trauma, injury or disease. She has taught both optometry and ophthalmology residents at Sinai Grace Hospital. Dr. Ference has sat on numerous boards, including Sinai Grace Hospital, Berry Out-Patient Surgical Center, and Seedlings Braille Books for the Blind. She is actively involved in area school districts to provide education, training and access for students, teachers, OT’s and PT’s to eye care service rehabilitation information. Dr. Ference has lectured extensively nationally and internationally.

Dr. Debby Feinberg began practicing Optometry in Oakland County in 1983, upon graduating from Illinois College of Optometry. She joined her father, Dr. Paul C. Feinberg, at Mall Optical Center, which was located in Summit Place Mall.

Since 1995 Dr. Feinberg has been developing the field of NeuroVisual Medicine which is the optometric subspecialty that identifies and treats neurological / medical symptoms that originate directly or indirectly in the visual system.

Dr. Feinberg has been performing pioneering work with Binocular Vision Dysfunction (BVD), a condition where a vision misalignment (frequently subtle) creates difficulties with the two eyes working together to create a single 3-dimensional image, and difficulties with the two eyes following that image as it moves.

The symptoms caused by BVD are not usually associated with problems with the visual system, and include headache, dizziness, anxiety and panic, persistent post-concussive symptoms, gait instability and balance problems, frequent falls, neck pain, motion sickness, nausea, and reading and learning problems.

In 2004. Dr. Feinberg established Vision Specialists of Birmingham, specifically designing the practice to accommodate the needs of the NeuroVisual Medicine patient.

In 2011, the office moved to its current location in Bloomfield Hills and updated its name to Vision Specialists of Michigan.