Six Months Later

I have come pretty far in my journey since initially being treated at the Hruska Clinic (see day one, two, and three).

I have developed a beautiful squat, am noticing less back issues when I lift, and just generally feel mo’ betta. I also have zero fatigue when reading or on a computer screen.

That said, I was still getting some right neck tension and felt that my reading comprehension was not as good as it was.

I was accommodating to both my orthotics, so I thought my next trip to Lincoln would be a good time to follow-up.

If Youz Ain’t Assessin’ You Guessin’

 Came through the door after a long flight and minimal sleep, and surprised even myself.

Without any orthotics, I was neutral at my pelvis and thorax, but still had some left cervical axial rotation and right OA sidebending restrictions.

I was also lacking the capacity to perform mandibular lateral trusion without kicking in my SCMs. The reason why I don’t have access to my pterygoids for this movement?

Those DAMN wisdom teeth.

My wisdom teeth essentially alter pterygoid position and reduce my mandible’s capacity to move. When I protrude, I have to extend my OA joint and utilize a forward head posture to complete the movement.

The same thing occurs with lateral trusion. When I attempt the movement, the bony block limits my pterygoids from performing the action. SCMs, in particular the right, try to pick up the slack.

From a visual standpoint, I was sitting pretty. I didn’t really have much trouble with far vision, and when Heidi checked my close vision my eyes were working symmetrically.

The fix for me is still wisdom teeth extraction (which is happening in October of next year), but was there anything else that could be done until then?

“There’s one more thing we can try.” ~ Ron Hruska

Vision 201

I see Ron place a pole out in the PRI vision hallway and he has me stand and stare on the right corner of a doorway.

“How far away does that appear?”

I said it was about 6 feet away.

I did the same exact thing on the left side of the door, only this time the pole appeared a couple feet farther away.

 I felt like Jesse Ventura when Arnold lifted the car up in Predator.

Having that slight depth perception asymmetry was my last saving grace before teeth extraction, as this was how we were going to give me a little bit more frontal plane.

They fit me with some very lightly prescribed lenses and focus on evening out my depth perception. The way that I do this is by activating my left SCM with right cervical rotation and then moving my eyes to the left. I also do the reverse. This activity is to be done on either side of a doorway so I alternate from looking at close and far space.

Just doing this exercise a couple times a day has already quieted my right neck down quite a bit, so I am hopeful that this will carry me the next several months until surgery.

I will now be doing extra-ocular muscle day at the gym in place of back and bi’s.

In terms of reading, we tried some evened out lenses but I couldn’t really tell a difference in terms of comprehension. What actually made the largest difference for me was taking my splint out and reading. Ron said that the splint is used to create movement for me, so was probably not necessary when I read. I just have to remind myself to contact my teeth every so often when I am reading.

The Game Plan

 Aside from the little activities above, I am discharged from PRI vision. I only need to come back if I get some visual changes after I get my wisdom teeth out. From here on out it’s all about getting my EOMs jacked, alternating activity, and wearing my splint less.

Can’t wait for October.