Effects of Sensomotoric Training on Neck/Scapular Pain in People With Visual Disability

People with prolonged musculoskeletal disorders have impaired quality of life, physical function, work conditions and work ability and consume substantial public resources. An often overlooked fact in this context is the relationship between musculoskeletal disorders and the importance of a normally functioning visual system. People who have a visual impairment in adulthood often experience reduced health and life satisfaction. Many people lose their faith in order to continue with the activities previously carried out as to cope with their life, their work, and in some cases,personal care. Rehabilitative efforts to reduce the negative effects often involve the prescription of various visual aids which, in turn, often leads to unfavourable ergonomic and static postures with further increased risk of musculoskeletal problems. A prevention of such disorders is likely to allow them to continue their work, which is important from both an individual and a society perspective. The overall objective of the project is to evaluate the effects of an intervention program and develop a theoretical model for the relationship between near work, eye disorders and musculoskeletal disorders. The intervention is to be evaluated in a randomized trial on people with impaired vision and pain in the neck and scapular area. An intervention based on development and adaptation of an established physiotherapy practice in order to increase body awareness, body control and movement patterns will be evaluated. The effects of the intervention will be measured by a variety of outcome measures derived from WHO's ICF-model. An innovative solution for establishing proprioception and eye-hand coordination in everyday activities, the Clinical Kinematic Assessment Tool, will be used.

Inclusion criteria

• visual disability
• age 18 to 67 years old
• pain in neck/scapular area
• living in Örebro county

Exclusion criteria

• deafness
• musculoskeletal disease (such as Multiple sclerosis, etc)