Effect of aerobic exercise on visual field in patients with glaucoma

摘要

Glaucoma represents an asymptomatic, progressive optic neuropathy characterized by acquired loss of retinal ganglion cells and atrophy of optic nerve, causing defects of the visual field. Some patients with glaucoma have normal intraocular pressure (IOP), and many patients with elevated IOP do not have glaucoma. So elevated IOP is a strong risk factor, but not a sole diagnostic criterion for glaucoma. The visual field test (perime-try) plays a key role in the diagnosis of glaucoma and in the assessment of efficiency of its treatment.Regular aerobic exercise is associated with a reduction in the elevated intraocular pressure (Passo, 1991) and might represent an effective nonpharmacologic intervention for patients with glaucoma. Regular exercise can also have a positive impact on other glaucoma risk factors including diabetes and high blood pressure. Therefore, it may be considered as a useful complementary means to the treatment of glaucoma namely in prevention of visual loss. It can be assumed, that the improvement in perfusion due to physical activity may positively influence those neurons with impaired, but not completely lost function, which may be recovered to a certain degree.