Dr. Ho had the pleasure of presenting “My Approach to using Heart Rate Variability for Syntonic Phototherapy Assessment in a Highly Symptomatic TBI Patient” at the annual College of Optometrist in Vision Development (COVD) meeting in Toronto last month.
Heart Rate Variability
Heart rate variability (HRV) is the fluctuation of time intervals between heartbeat that is regulated by cortical, subcortical and brain stem. Cognition, emotion, and the autonomic nervous systemic (ANS) directly links to HRV and performance. At rest, HRV is the net effect of the parasympathetic (rest and relax) and the sympathetic (fight and flight). Low HRV has been correlated declining cardiovascular health, increasing biological age, reduced sleep, and increasing risk of chronic disease.
Low HRV also correlates with reduced parasympathetic activity, autonomic nervous system rigidity, and maladaptive stress coping which is seen in many of the traumatic brain injury patients. Optometric syntonic phototherapy (see old blog to learn more about syntonics) uses different color filters either motor and sensory stimulants or depressants to influence sensorimotor functions of the eye and modulate brain function. Currently optometrists are using color kinetic visual fields and pupil evaluation to retrospectively prescribe syntonic treatment.
Dr. Ho presented a case of a symptomatic traumatic brain injury patient who was unable to complete a color kinetic field and had excess light sensitivity. She used Heartmath HRV tool to assess for appropriate colors to determine the appropriate filter to apply for the patients’ treatment. The symptomatic patient underwent several changes to filters over the next year with significant improvement to his brain injury symptoms and quality of life.
COVD (https://www.covd.org/) is an amazing organization dedicated to Improving lives by advancing excellence in developmental and rehabilitative neuro-optometric vision care through education and board certification. Dr. Ho has been a fellow of COVD since 2019. The board certification process required a rigorous evaluation of the doctor’s professional’s knowledge and abilities in providing developmental and behavioral vision care for patients. You can check out her old blog about this milestone moment in her past.