Last updated on April 18th, 2019

Vision, Eye Strain and Posture

Vision, Eye Strain and Posture

This article is about understanding the connection between the function of your eyes (vision), posture and how eye strain is the connection. Since the visual system controls 70% of postural coordination and movements this means if you are experiencing eye strain it can affect the complex neurological connection between your eyes, brain and posture(1).

Article Summary

  • Connecting Eyes to Posture
  • Eye Strain – When it happens
  • Eye Strain and Posture
  • Where it happens – Eyes and Brain
  • Eye Strain and Blue Light
  • Eye Strain and Tec Neck
  • Eye Strain and Mental Fatigue
  • Solutions for Fixing Eye Strain

Connecting Eyes to Posture

According to The Vision Council 70% of US adults in one survey reported having some kind of digital eye strain (strained, dry, or red eyes; blurred vision; headaches; back pain; neck pain; or general fatigue) as a result of using digital devices for hours at a time(2).

Looking closer at what eye strain does to the body, we see the ramifications are widespread. If you are one of the 70% suffering from eye strain then you probably have been dealing with it for a long time. Consider how long you are using your devices.

Over and above using technology at work, 83% of professional workers check their emails after work, 66% take their technology with them on vacation, and more than 50% report sending emails while having a meal with family or friends(3).

Eye Strain – When it Happens

#1 Posture position

When you are not sitting correctly either at the desk or in the car ask yourself this; did your eyes set up that position or are your eyes following along? For example, slouching in front of the computer may start because we are straining to look at a screen or if you are texting most people look down resulting in a hunched body posture. I recommend sitting up straight at your computer then setting the screen to fit the posture. This way if you slouch or strain your eyes you know you need to take a break.

#2 Glasses

A cause of Forward Head Posture can come from a person’s habit of accommodating to see through their glasses in order to see the object in front of them. Unfortunately the longer a person has been accommodating for their vision the longer the brain has wired itself to perpetuate the habit and therefore the posture.

Researchers have found that individuals develop abnormal head posture with the use of glasses. Forward head translation increases to achieve right line of sight. Other eye conditions such as eye misalignment, eye dominance, nystagmus, ptosis, and refractive errors play their part in vision and posture(4).

#3 Eye muscle weakness

Clinically there are many disorders that can result in severe dysfunction of the muscles of vision. There are however, mild to moderate dysfunction that often times gets overlooked because it’s not quite bad enough. In nearly every brain based vision exam I see clients that show weakness in their eyes that they didn’t realize. The passage of time with this weakness had created neurological imbalances that was seen in a posture assessment.

The most common posture distortions I will see are head tilt and head rotation. A head tilt and rotation for example, may come from the vestibular system (inner ear) and/or cerebellar dysfunction. I often find one sided eye muscle weakness correlating with head tilt or eye dominance in head rotation.

Eye Strain and Posture

Maria, a prolific blog writer, came to me because she was noticing that after a day on her computer she was experiencing eye strain, blurry vision and neck pain. She wasn’t sure if it was connected but she also noticed being run down by the end of the week; it was a lot harder to get motivated to do much of anything. Maria is generally a happy person, loves what she does but was feeling what many describe as feeling burned out. I suggested that maybe it had to do with her high level of exposure to her technology devices and that it was resulting in eye strain which, left unchecked, was leading to cognitive fatigue, physical fatigue and emotional fatigue – all explaining her symptoms. Maria is not alone in her experience.

Where it happens – Eye Strain and Brain

I explained to Maria that eye strain was developing from her focusing too long in one direction and ignoring exercising her eye muscles in other directions. The focused attention also meant that she was probably craning her head forward putting stress on the muscles of her neck. The combination of her eye strain and bad posture generated an enormous amount stress to her overall system resulting in fatigue.

Fatigue from muscular imbalance and poor neurological feedback from her bad posture led to cognitive fatigue. Her brain was tired. This is a culprit for occupational errors and physical pains. Improved visual acuity and eye movement can help improve focused concentration within the workplace and prevent human error for improved production in job related tasks as well as better mood.

Eye Strain and Blue Light

Technology overload at work and while at home creates serious over exposure of blue light and more stress to posture. 90% of Americans report using a device within one hour of going to bed. 49% of Americans report checking their phones at least once overnight.  Now, blue light is all around us. The spectrum of blue light in nature is perfectly balanced. However, when exposed excessively, especially at night, blue light emission affects sleeping patterns. Properly used blue light has a stimulatory effect; it wakes you up, makes you alert, boosts your mood, heightens your reaction times and affects your general well-being(5).

These are all good things during the day, but undesirable at night as it affects your circadian rhythm. Melatonin production happens naturally at night as it gets darker which ushers you into a restful sleep pattern. Light at night is part of the reason that so many people don’t get enough sleep. Yet many people continue to check their phones in bed before falling asleep. It goes without saying, lack of sleep takes a toll on the body.

Eye Strain and Tec Neck

According to researchers it was reported that adults between ages of 18 and 33 interact with their phones an astounding 85 times a day. They spend about five hours doing so. Interestingly, another study was done showing that usage on devices was largely unconscious. Most thought they were spending about half the time than was actually occurring! All this time on the devices leads to two major problems: eye strain and breakdown of posture(6).

Eye Strain and Mental Fatigue

Eye strain leads to mental fatigue. Mental fatigue leads to postural collapse called “Teck Neck”. Teck Neck is a medical diagnosis of forward head posture. It is due to looking down at a device for a prolonged period of time.

Scientists have evaluated the amount of pressure on the bones of the neck as it is bent forward at varying degrees. It was concluded that as the head tilts forward by 15 degrees, as if looking forward at a cell phone, the weight of the head increases from 10-12 pounds to 27 pounds. This creates an increase in pressure on the margins of the spinal bones(7). According to analysis completed by spinal researcher Dr. Harrison, forward head position will accelerate the development or progression of spinal arthritis and disc disease (SADD) due to altered and increased spinal loads(8).

Solutions for Fixing Eye Strain

Maria was affected by her computer use. On the onset of her professional career this was a non-issue. After the prolonged use however, it became obvious that she needed to make changes. The changes needed to happen if she was going to continue being successful and happy in her online work.

I gave her three modifications to make and 30 days with full implementation to assess her results. She made a few ergonomic modifications, wore amber glasses daily and prioritized hourly posture breaks. Check out how to improve YOUR workstation here. The combination of these things greatly reduced her neck pain and by her second month her energy returned. Maria realized her production and quality of work improved. She returned to a bright future of blogging.

  • Install blue-light-blocking software
  • Wear Blue-blocking glasses (see Blueblockers Review)
  • Avoid computer or device use before bed
  • Implement hourly posture breaks
  • Reduce glare by turning your computer brightness to equal environmental light
  • Get a professional ergonomic assessment for workstation optimization

Getting Help

The health and proper function of your vision is critical part of having good posture. Be sure to have an eye exam and to see if you are losing “sightedness”. If you notice that your head is tilted or that you are noticing you are slouching have a friend take a picture of you in that position. Many times you can make adjustments to reduce the bad posture just by changing the daily habits that tie into your visual activities.

Poor posture from neurological breakdown and subsequent dysfunction compels the need to find a posture expert. Find a practitioner who understands and can assess your vision in relation to your posture. With their help you can develop a program that will help improve your posture and perhaps even your vision!

References:

  1. Guyton and Hall Textbook of Medical Physiology, 13th Edition
  2. https://www.thevisioncouncil.org/content/digital-eye-strain
  3. https://www.ostermanresearch.com/
  4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10532361
  5. http://jcsm.aasm.org/Search.aspx?query=Gradisar+et+al.%2c+2013&words=1&vol=-1&iss=-1&cme=False
  6. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0139004
  7. http://surgicaltechnology.com
  8. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1840024/

Dr. Paul Paez, DC, NRT, NET, CMT

National Board Certified Doctor of Chiropractic (DC), trained in clinical nutrition (NRT), neuro-emotional release (NET), and Massage Therapy (CMT). Dr. Paul holds the rare triple distinction of Certified Posture Expert, Certified Posture Neurologist and Certified Posture Ergonomist by the American Posture Institute. Posture Possible is the very best resource for posture information.