How to Do Exercises for Astigmatism

Astigmatism refers to a vision problem that is caused by an irregularly shaped cornea or an irregularly shaped lens. The transparent dome-shaped membrane covering the front of the eye is called the cornea that helps with eye focus The lens which is located behind the colored part of your eye helps the eye to see objects up close and from afar. If both of these eye structures are defective, vision will be distorted or blurred at all distances, accompanied with headaches or eye strain.

Things You'll Need

• Comfortable chair
• Soft ball and a long string
• pen or pencil

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Instructions

How to Do Exercises for Astigmatism (Part I)

• 1

  Find a quiet place where you can perform this calming activity. Sit comfortably, close your eyes, and relax. Breathe easy and allow your mind to unwind. Do not squeeze your eyelids when you shut your eyes. Close it as gently as possible. Allow your eyes to rest for about 3 to 5 minutes. This activity will help alleviate eye strain by relaxing the eye muscles.

• 2

  Sit comfortably on a chair, back straight and neck in a neutral position. Hands on your lap, relax your body, and gently close your eyes. Inhale and gradually extend or tilt your head backwards as you exhale. Then bring your head back to the center. Inhale again and slowly flex or tilt your head forward as you exhale. With your head positioned back to the center, inhale and gradually tilt your head to the left as you exhale. Repeat the same procedure as you tilt your head to the right. Your face should still be directed to the front as you tilt your head sideways.

• 3

  Do the neck exercise as an adjunct to your head tilting activities. With your eyes still gently closed and neck in neutral position, take a deep breath and slowly turn your head to the left as you exhale. Position your head back to the center, inhale again and slowly turn your head to the right as you exhale. Your face should be directed to the left or right as you turn your head on either directions. Then do the neck circles, inhale as you rotate your neck to one side and exhale as you rotate it to the opposite side.

• 4

  End your head tilting and neck activities with simple shoulder exercises. Roll your left shoulder to the front 5 times and then roll it on the opposite direction (backward) 5 times as well. Do the same for the right shoulder. Then roll both your shoulder 5 times to the front and 5 times to the back.

• 5

  Continue your shoulder exercise by doing the elevate and drop technique. Inhale as you slowly elevate your left shoulder and then exhale as you bring it back down. Do the same on your right shoulder. Then inhale again and lift both your shoulders up and exhale as you slowly bring them back to normal position. These exercises are excellent ways in increasing the blood supply to your eyes while keeping them healthy and nourished.

• 6

  Hang a soft grip or squeeze ball above the ceiling or in between the doorway. Adjust the string from above, up to the level of your chest, and let the ball suspend from that height. Then take off your contact lenses or glasses and stand in front of the ball. Ask someone to position herself in front of you, take the ball, and move it farther away from you.

• 7

  Instruct your partner to release the ball. As the ball swings in your direction, dodge your body sideways away from the ball without moving your feet. Do this exercise as many times as you can. This activity improves the coordination of your eyes and also helps in increasing its ability to focus on fast-moving objects

• 8

  Perform the near and far focus exercise. This exercise should be done in a place where there are no distractions. What you need here is an object that you can focus up close and an object that you can focus from afar. For your object up close, you can either use a pen or your own finger. For your distant object, look for a steady one such as a pole or a tree that's far away from you. When you are all set, take your contact lenses or glasses off and start the exercise.

• 9

  Hold your pen steady of about 6 inches away from you nose. Stare and keep your focus on the pen for 5 seconds. Shift your focus on to your distant object and fix your eyes on it for 5 seconds. Repeat this alternating near and far focus method as many times as you can. This exercise is beneficial for your eyes' lenses, after a long book read or computer work.

How to Do Exercises for Astigmatism (Part II)

• 10

  Execute an eye relaxation exercise after doing certain eye-focusing activities. Sit comfortably in a quiet place. Then rub your palms together until they feel warm. Gently close your eyes, cup both your hands, and place your warm palms over your eyes. Your eyes should be in the middle of the cupped area of your palms. Avoid putting pressure on your eyeballs as you enclose your eyes with your palms.

• 11

  Make sure to not cover you nose to avoid hampering your breathing. It is important to keep the edges of your cupped palms close to the surface of your face. Your fingers should stick together to not allow any ray of light to pass through it and enter your eyes. While your eyes is closed and covered, try to just focus on the blackness. Relax your mind, relax your whole system, and breathe with ease. Just allow your eye muscles to rest for about 3 minutes or more. Repeat this procedure 3 to 5 times.

• 12

  Standing or seated, keep your back straight, and neck in neutral position. With your head being very still, imagine yourself staring at a huge clock, looking straight ahead. Next, slowly look up as far as you can on the 12th o'clock hour mark without moving your head. When you feel the stretch in your eyeballs, hold the position for 2 counts and bring your eyes back to to center. Then perform the exact same procedure from 1o'clock to the 11th hour mark of your imaginary clock.

• 13

  Remember to always bring your eyes back to the center before proceeding to the next hour mark. After doing the whole clockwise cycle, execute the same procedure but this time do it counterclockwise. This is an excellent strengthening exercise for your ocular muscles and you can perform this with your eyes closed. Do not forget to take your glasses or contact lenses off when doing this activity.

• 14

  Relax your eyes after doing the clock hour mark exercise (steps 3 and 4). Allow your eyes to relax by looking at something away from where you at. Looking at objects from afar will help ease you eye muscles, relieving it from strain. After doing this for about 3 to 5 minutes, you can further relax your eyes by performing steps 1 and 2, where you cup your eyes with your warm palms. You can also close your eyes, and gradually do a figure of 8 with your head. Perform this relaxing method for 3 minutes or more and incorporate it with rhythmic breathing.