Are we talking about eye muscles?

By: Peter Stamos

Our eyes are vital, not only for vision but also for how our body perceives where we are in space. Many people have heard about core stability, but far fewer have heard about eye stability, which is called gaze stabilization. Your eyes work with your inner ear (vestibular system) to reflexively stabilize (Vestibular Ocular Reflex) your eyes when your head moves. When this is disrupted, this is sometimes called a Sensory Mismatch, meaning your eyes and ears perceive the environment differently. When this happens, it can create a host of dysfunctions, such as vertigo, motion sickness, dizziness, migraines, and eye strain. Most people can appreciate the local dysfunction, but what is sometimes surprising is its effect on the rest of the body.

As this reflex is working sub-optimally, the rest of the body could feel threatened and, as a result, lead to pain. An example is chronic pains that don’t respond to traditional treatment, such as neck, lower back, and plantar fascia pain. The challenge I have experienced from working on myself and my clients is that these movement dysfunctions are subtle and challenging to perceive without a motion capture system. We have six eye muscles on each side that need to work the inner ear to reduce threat. Below is a GIF that, if used correctly, should give you feedback if you have this problem. First, make sure the GIF is at eye level. Next, look at the cross between the pink circles in the middle of the screen. As you stare at the cross and your eyes relax/stabilize, the pink circles will either disappear or change color. If that is successful, you can challenge your eyes to stabilize in different positions. Now, move your head up and hold while still looking at the cross. Can you still get the pink circles to disappear or change colors? If so, try this again in another position, such as down, right, left, left up/down, right up/down.  

If you can stabilize your eyes in different positions and get the circles to disappear or change colors, then let’s move away from holding a single position and move your head while looking at the cross. First, move your head up and down while looking at the cross. Were you still successful in getting the circles to disappear or change colors? If so, rotate right and left, or try a diagonal head pattern to the right or left. 

If all those were successful, try lunging in different directions while looking at the cross. No matter what eye, head, or lunge pattern you choose, you should be able to get the circles to change. If you can’t, practicing the unsuccessful pattern could be very beneficial. I hope this helps. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions.