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Vision Therapy Helps Gymnast Compete Again

Sidelined gymnast makes it to the medal stand with vision therapy.

We would like to thank Dr. Michael Gallaway and his staff for playing an integral role in the recovery of our daughter, Adriana, 15 y.o. gymnast who sustained a concussion while competing vault during the World Gymnastics Championships 2016. Adriana has had a prolonged recovery with many persistent post concussion symptoms.

A concussion sidelined Adrianna. Vision therapy enabled her to compete again and win a gymnastics championship.

Adriana has been under the care of Dr. Tina Master, concussion expert at CHOP, who detected that Adriana had significant visual deficits as a result of her concussion. Dr. Tina Master and Dr. Joanne Bailey referred Adriana to Dr. Michael Gallaway for further management. Dr. Gallaway confirmed that, as a result of her concussion, Adriana had visual deficits such as poor eye tracking, and oculomotor, accommodation and convergence problems.

Dr. Gallaway customized a treatment plan for Adriana and she completed over four months of vision therapy to correct her vision. Dr. Gallaway guided her final steps of recovery. As she was progressing in vision therapy and after a complete break from gymnastics, Dr. Gallaway advised that she return slowly to gymnastics on the floor, while she continued to get office based vision treatments.

Treating her concussion-related visual deficits made a significant difference in recovery and allowed her to return to gymnastics and achieve the goal of becoming a World Champion.

Adriana started back at gymnastics just a few weeks before the last meet of the season. She qualified for State/Regional and World Championships. Adriana came in first place for event finals and ultimately won First Place World Champion /Gold Medalist at the 2017 USAIGC World Gymnastics Championships which took place in Reno, Nevada. Treating her concussion related visual deficits made a significant difference in her recovery and allowed her return to safely and successfully back to gymnastics and achieve her lifetime goal of becoming a World Champion. We highly recommend Dr. Gallaway’s expert management for any athlete that has post-concussion visual deficits and desires to maximize their recovery with a positive outcome. The long travel from PA to NJ to see Dr. Gallaway was well worth it. Dr. Gallaway and his staff are professional , pleasant, compassionate and provide exceptional care to patients.

adrianna, gymnast who received vision therapy
Adrianna won gold after vision therapy helped return her to competition.

We are grateful to have had this wonderful experience. We have witnessed first hand that office-based vision therapy for post-concussion visual deficits is highly effective and can make a huge difference in academic and athletic performance.

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