Wow Vision Therapy Blog
Moving Beyond “Wait and See”: Effective Care for Visual Motion Sensitivity After Brain Injury
A National Conversation, Brought Home to Our Community
On January 23-24, 2026, nearly 100 doctors, therapists, residents, and students from across the United States and Canada gathered in Grand Rapids for the 2026 Michigan Vision Therapy Study Group (MVTSG) Educational Conference. Despite winter weather challenges, colleagues traveled from coast to coast to engage in two days of advanced education focused on neuro‑optometry and brain‑injury recovery.
Our Wow Vision Therapy Founder, Dr. Dan L. Fortenbacher helped start the MVTSG, which began over 40 years ago. He hosts this annual meeting to help bring nationally recognized experts to West Michigan—including leading researchers and veteran clinicians whose work continues to shape evidence‑based neuro‑optometric care. The goal of this year’s meeting was simple but powerful: to translate research into practical, life‑changing care for patients with traumatic and acquired brain injuries.
For our Wow Vision Therapy team, this conference was more than an academic gathering—it was a reflection of the same clinical principles we apply every day in our practices.
Visual Motion Sensitivity: From Recognition to Real‑World Solutions
One of the most important themes reinforced throughout the conference was Visual Motion Sensitivity, often described by patients as Grocery Store Syndrome. As discussed in our recent blog post, VMS occurs when the brain struggles to process motion and spatial information after concussion, making everyday environments feel overwhelming or unsafe.
What the MVTSG meeting emphasized—through research discussion, clinical frameworks, and shared experience—is that VMS is:
- Common (affecting approximately 60–70% of patients with post‑concussion syndrome)
- Measurable through neuro‑optometric evaluation
- Treatable with targeted neuro‑optometric rehabilitation
Patients experiencing dizziness, disorientation, nausea, anxiety, or avoidance of visually busy environments are not “just anxious,” and they should not be told to simply avoid triggers or wait for symptoms to fade.
Why “Wait and See” Fails Patients
A recurring message from the conference—and one echoed by growing clinical research—is that the traditional “wait and see” approach after concussion often delays recovery rather than supporting it.
Prospective clinical trials and meta‑analyses discussed at the meeting demonstrate that early intervention leads to better outcomes, while delayed referral often leaves patients adapting their lives around symptoms that could have been treated.
Avoidance may reduce short‑term discomfort, but it does not retrain the visual system. Over time, it can actually reinforce sensitivity, limit independence, and prolong suffering.
The better approach is timely referral for a comprehensive neuro‑optometric vision evaluation.
Our Team, Our Commitment
At the 2026 MVTSG conference, members of the Wow Vision Therapy doctor team—Dr. Alyssa Parz, Dr. Alicia Bultsma, Dr. Sana Haque, and Dr. Dan Fortenbacher— joined colleagues in advancing the conversation around diagnosis and rehabilitation of visual motion sensitivity. This reflects the collaborative, evidence‑informed model of care that defines our practice.
Our doctors work closely with a highly trained team of vision therapists to design individualized neuro‑optometric rehabilitation programs that address:
- Visual motion processing
- Binocular vision and eye coordination
- Eye movement control
- Visual‑vestibular integration
- Functional tolerance to real‑world environments
This team‑based approach is essential. Recovery from concussion is not about avoiding life—it’s about restoring the visual system so patients can fully re‑engage with it.
A Message to Patients and Referring Providers
If you are a patient struggling after concussion, or a provider caring for someone whose recovery has stalled, this message is important:
Persistent symptoms are not a failure to heal—they are a sign that part of the system has been missed.
Neuro‑optometric vision evaluation and rehabilitation play a critical role in identifying and treating visual motion sensitivity and other functional vision disorders following brain injury. Early referral matters, and effective treatment exists.
Moving Forward With Hope and Evidence
The momentum coming out of the 2026 MVTSG Educational Conference reinforces what we see every day in our clinics: when visual motion sensitivity is properly diagnosed and treated, patients regain confidence, independence, and quality of life.
At Wow Vision Therapy, we are proud to bring nationally informed, evidence‑based neuro‑optometric care to our local communities in Grand Rapids, St. Joseph and surrounding areas of Michigan, and Northwest Indiana.
Awareness is the first step. Action is the next.
If you or someone you care for is struggling after concussion, don’t just “wait and hope”. Help is available now.
Call us today, Wow Vision Therapy in Grand Rapids: 616-447-1444 or in St. Joseph: 269-983-3309. You can also contact us online when you click here.
Alyssa L. Parz, O.D., FOVDR