Visual disturbances and movement an observational study of patients with acquired brain injury

Purpose: To explore whether and how vision disturbances influence how patients with acquired brain injury move during physiotherapy treatment. Method and material: The sample consisted of two patients with vision disturbances and movement disorders. Both were admitted for hospital based rehabilitation in Norway, receiving treatments from physiotherapist and vision teacher (separately). One physiotherapy session with each patient was video filmed, and vision teacher and physiotherapist were interviewed in order to acquire background information for the video analysis. Recurrent features and patterns in the data material were identified after thorough analysis. Result: Vision disturbances is of consequence for how the patients move, among other things by impairing precision during arm movements, making it difficult to initiate turns, and influencing posture. The findings indicate that vision disturbances influence the patients habitual ways of moving. Conclusion: Knowledge of how vision disturbances influence the manner of movement gives a more comprehensive understanding of the patients possibilities and limitations for moving. Taking measure for such conditions will thus be of importance for producing adequate treatment