Computer vision syndrome is a major global public health concern affecting >60 million individuals globally. Yoga and naturopathy practices can reduce visual fatigue and strain. The present study attempted to explore the effect of trataka that is, a yogic cleansing technique and cold eye pack on visual strain and fatigue.
Subjects:
Three hundred volunteers from an IT company were recruited following inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Intervention:
The subjects were randomly distributed in three groups, that is, trataka, cold eye pack, and waitlist control group with an allocation ratio of 1:1:1.
Outcome measure:
Visual Fatigue Scale and Visual symptoms checklist (VSC) was administered at baseline and end of 2 weeks. Repeated measures analysis of variance (RM-ANOVA) with Bonferroni corrections was used to test the difference across the groups.
Results:
All the variables were similar at the baseline among the groups. Significant changes in the within-group analysis occurred in both the trataka and cold eye pack groups. The RM-ANOVA revealed significant differences in the VAS and VSC (p = 0.001) and the post hoc analysis suggested that there were significant differences in both the trataka and cold eye pack group when compared with the control group (p = 0.001); however, there was no differences between the trataka and cold eye pack group in both the scales (p = 1).
Conclusions:
The results of the present study suggest that a trataka and cold eye pack for 14 days improves self-rated visual strain and fatigue among IT professionals with computer vision syndrome.
Clinical Trial registration number:
CTRI/2020/11/029003
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