Dr. JM Rusk
85, Belvedere Avenue, C1A 6B2 Charlottetown, PE, Canada

It has been a while since something was posted. This is a short post but important from a comfort and preventative viewpoint. COVID will affect all the mucous tissue; nose mouth/throat and eyes. Thus the PPE that is worn. To assist in cleaning NETI pot should be seriously considered. It will cleanse sinus and the channel between eye and nasal passage and ears to some degree. NETI pot will eradicate any allergens, bacteria, virus etc. and reduce the possibilty of severe issues... or issues in general. Dry eye, Itchy eye, etc will benefit from NETI pot usage. Regarding throat and mouth if you feel as though you may be coming down with something you can consider digestive enzymes: open the capsule and put the contents in your mouth and swirl it around with your saliva. The enzymes will destroy virus by stripping the outer coat. The idea that masking and wearing gloves or face sheilds is an infringement on our freedoms is just ludicrous - simply - if you want a greater chance of being infected - go ahead - dont wear a mask or facesheild or gloves. If you want the best chance of not being infected and infecting others then wear a mask, gloves / or wash hands and wear face sheilds as required. And just to be clear this post is not to join into any debate or lay superfluous blame - it is about common sense - at a minimum. See more

Back in the gym after some time away . Some squats and deadlifts light today. Have not squatted in over 6 months , did a leg aworkout on Sunday and a Bench work...out on Monday . Happy to say - No issues at all. Thanks to my doctor Murray Rusk for getting me through the last little blip on the radar. #feelingmotivated #powerlifting . Seeing the 2019 Commonwealths are going on now and one of my best friends Paul Gidney won Gold on monday, i dug out an old 2015 pic from the same event. #Throwback2015. I miss the thrill of getting that big lift. See more

Macular degeneration is another issue patients ask about. How can you prevent macular degeneration? You will get all kinds of answers on this one. What I suggest is the following. Proper diet is essential- most of is know what that means - but if you dont then you could look up Dr Mercola on nutrition. Or you could read research on www.thepaleodiet.com site. Dr Lorain Cordain has information on macular issues there as well as diet. You are what you eat (or dont eat). Depleted... soils, toxins, GMO, all have issues, researched and published. Light can be an issue, though to wear sunglasses all the time creates a light deficiency for the body; we need full spectrum for health. So a sensible wearing schedule for sunglasses is between 11-2 could be used. If you have macular issues in the family then paying attention to diet is worthwhile. pH is a clue to overall health. If you follow your pH it can be helpful and there are proper ways to perform that testing on yourself. Someone in nutrition should be able to counsel you. Wrong pH will leas to macular issues- as it will also cause other issues for health. Proper levels of nitric oxide in your system can also be highly beneficial and there is a spit test for that using strips, or discuss this with your Dr. The idea that, sun and genetics are major drivers of this problem is usually highly prominent, I have a bit of a different take on the issue. Yes , UV can be harmful but mostly due to UV absorbing chemicals not being present in the macula. So it is the lack of these chemicals that leaves UV as a culprit. We need UV for health, pure and simple, thats why you take Vit D3and K2 in the winter time -OR - should be! Genetics is a problem for the adolescent, that is when macular issues show if genetic. So to help yourself:: good clean diet, good alkaline based or non chlorinated water, good sunlight - early morning up to 10:30 is beat for UV that will not hurt you. But DON’T look at the sun!!! We dodn’t have to feel helpless, there are steps you can take. Whene thinking food think energy. How much energy does the food have ? Would boxed flake potatoes carry the same LIFE energy as a real potatoe? Is boxed and canned food high in LIFE energy - no. Eat well eat live food. Stay grounded in the summer with your shoes off !! We need direct current from the earth for health and this is nutrition also. See more

Myopia is a major issue facing the population. It is estimated that by 2025 half of the worlds population will be myopic!! Why is this happening? Many years ago Dr Daryll Boyd Harmon finished a ten year study of 160,000 children in the school setting. It was and is the single largest study of children in the learning setting. From his studies - which were a landmark for education for many years- he showed that if a child was too close to their desks or close work they would i...nevitably end up with refractive issues. Myopia was one of the major issues. From this the Harmon distance was determined to be the best position for near work, ie what was called, years ago, a cubit. The distance from the elbow but to the knuckles of the clenched fist. Another issue causing myopia is not only being too close to something at near but also small screens. The smaller the screen the less the eyes are called upon to move. Eyes do not function well when stable. This creates eye strain and issues with focussing that leads to myopia. Sugars lead to myopia due to their effects on the crystalline lens function of the eye. Milk affects myopia in certain children as a protein in milk keeps the sclera tension weak as the child grows thus increasing axial length. Continual effort to focus causes myopia from axial length changes created by the ocular muscles acting on the eye. Chromium and vanadium imbalance creates myopia due to biochemical issues. Personality causes myopia. Those who are prone to neglecting the large picture (suppress peripheral information, or are more interested in a tree and not the forest) have a tendency to become myopic. Lighting causes myopia, improper lighting. Cool white fluorescents have been banned in certain countries in Europe for years, as they cause myopia, learning problems, dental caries etc. Also another example, concerning light, in the study mentioned above by Harmon, he found that if there was a 20 percent difference of illumination between the eyes them the eye with the leaser light will become myopic. So what happens when a child lies on their arm? they are creating a problem, or if they study in a room where a window is at their side? That will create an issue. The common issues across the world seem to be small screens, too close, milk of biochemical balance (chromium/ vanadium ratio). Yes, genetics is a factor but not necessarily the major issue. To give hope to your child consider the above next time they complain of distance blur. See more

A little over 25 years ago, a Harvard-trained neurosurgeon named Dr. Norm Shealy met a young woman. Her name was Caroline Myss, and she had an amazing gift: the... ability to see illness in other people using only her intuition. It sounded like a far-fetched idea, but Dr. Shealy soon discovered Caroline’s diagnoses were 93% accurate. Over the years, Caroline honed her craft and became one of the most renowned names in the fields of intuition and energy healing. She penned five New York Times bestselling books. And now, these two amazing minds are together again. Caroline and Dr. Shealy have created a revolutionary self-care curriculum. It’s a completely free three-part video series that will teach you the keys to developing your own medical intuition, and how to use that powerful skill set to enjoy greater health and healing. Join us for this free video series. Learn and apply the techniques. Live your best life. >>> http://bit.ly/2sYWET1

Today I am expanding upon posture and the visual process. The visual process as you have been informed is the largest processing system of the brain. It is a tele receptor system, that means it is a processing system that can be informed over distance. Faster than the auditory system (if not focally bound), able to process vast amounts of information (again if not focally bound- see previous posts). Not only is vision involved with preconscious processing preparing us for wha...Continue reading

For my first post I discussed Focal binding a major visual processing problem for many children and adolescents today. Part of the issues, when focal binding exists, is problems with eye movements. Eye movements or Gaze ability is crucial to proper processing. When we look at gaze, if the eye muscles are not paralyzed then the problem with eye movement (gaze) os NOT a muscle problem; it is a brain problem. Gaze issues are very prevalent in children with; developmental vis...Continue reading

Lately there has been a resurgence of interest by teachers in cursive writing. The question is, Should cursive writing be a part of the curriculum in school? The answer from a visual processing and visual development point of view is, and always has been, absolutely. It is unfortunate, especially for young children and teenagers, that curriculum in schools has no relationship to vision and its development. This is odd since the visual system is one of two tele- receptor sys...tems of the brain, the other being the auditory. And is the single largest brain processing system! The bias toward auditory processing is obvious is schools with various forms of help for,auditory processing, phenemics etc. These are good things! However, when we compare input size from the visual system into the brain which is many hundreds of times larger than the auditory, it is peculiar no programs are in the schools for vision!! (Now remember sight is NOT vision, vision is the ability to understand the world around us and react with it.) And indeed a picture is definitely worth a thousand words; even more, a picture unites all sensory modalities! So why cursive in schools?? There are TWO major visual processing systems of the brain (there are more) these two major systems can be considered as the FOCAL and the AMBIENT. The former is phonetic related and serially processes information. Printing stimulates and is processed with this system. This is a slow left brained system of processing. Printing limits processing by the AMBIENT process and in fact will tend to cause its failure through focalisation which i discussed in previous posts. Cursive on the other hand stimulates the AMBIENT process, which is a good thing since the ambient process is the fast, global, preconscious, subconscious visual system that has direct or indirect connections to the whole cortex and unifies all other perceptual processes. This system is also highly emotionally related! The ambient is right brain relative and enables us to determine directionality and laterality ( which negates reversal), it also encourages; reading and learning in general and enables fast and efficient eye movements, and this is just the beginning of the story! So definitely, cursive should be a part of the curriculum from day one in kindergarten. This will allow the visual system to flourish, rather than what is occurring in todays schools, where the visual system is declining due to FOCAL bias. This all stems around the fact that schools, governments, architects( who build the schools) do not inquire from visual development specialists what is required to learn visually. Remember the visual process is the largest system we use to learn. So I am with those teachers who think cursive should be brought back and, I as a visual developmental specialist, have given a few reasons why. Obviously this post is just the tip of the iceberg. See more

Last post was concerning light and the fact that it is a major nutrient we usually do not pay particular attention to. Continuing with the topic of nutrients it is important to realise that certain nutrients we eat daily can cause problems for us- not everything that is a nutrient has beneficial effects for us in fact several are very destructive. For example, phytates, saponins and lectins. These plant nutrients are a potential major issue in causing failure of the gut- bra...in barrier. This is of interest to neuro optometrists since issues with the brain due to leaky gut can cause issues with the visual system. The author of the Paleo Diet - Loren Cordain - has written about the research concerning these nutrients on his site, thepaleodiet.com. Further research is written about these nutrients and other nasty chemicals in the book The Plant Paradox by Dr Gundry. For those of you who have any health issues or wish to remain healthy the information concerning these nutrients and chemicals is important. I mention these so you may take time to read about them yourself. Leaky gut can lead to Metabolic Syndrome, if you do not know about Metabolic Syndrome (or Syndrome X) you should - the information - again on the paleo website or the web will be shocking to you, but at the same time very helpful. Just remember issues with leaky gut lead to issues with brain function in different ways. See more

Light fundamental to all life yet by most people poorly understood in terms of its benefits. Light is a nutrient yet when buildings are built and artificial lighting is used we lose the nutritional benefits from true sunlight. So, sicker in winter and healthier in summer, are we. Blue light, as UV light before it, has been dubbed dangerous for you. Nothing could be further from the truth on both counts. Both blue light and UV are essential for normal health and wellness AND ...Continue reading

This is my first post for a while. It will probably be some time before my nexy one also. As a behavioral neuro optometrist i deal not only with all sorts of vision and learning problems but also injury. Children with vision and learning problems and those with injury have common issues - though the reasons for the problems with vision have a different eitiogy. All those with learning problems and injury will have issues with what is called FOCAL BINDING. Focal binding essent...ially means that half of the visual system is being used. There are three major pathways for the visual system (though more exist). One is the focal system one is the ambient system and one ties these two together. In focal binding the focal pathway is being used and the other pathways are not or not fully being used. Sinve the ambient pathway is the high speed, subconscious, anticipatory, whole word, spatial, postural, emotive and vestibularly integrative part of the visual system (plus more attributes not mentioned) you can imagine the problems that will exist if this system is not functioning properly. For example, gaze, binocular vision, comprehension, attention, awareness, fluency, spelling, writing, laterality/ directionality(ie reversal issues) will be some of the problems encountered when this system is not working. Also, sensory integrative and cognitive and emotional problems exist when this system is poorly functioning. The ambinet process is very easily upset also, stress, poor lighting poor intestinal health, poor breathing and bad posture all agfect the system negatively. For this reason years ago we were told to sit up straight, we had tilted desks , natural lighting and mostly non packaged foods. Not today!! Yet are schools or those who are injures looking at vision processing as a major potential problem!? Nope - Parents at least should be aware and try to help in creating awarneas as did i for 18 years - with no changes. Parents should look at the above and create the positive changes required to counter FOCAL BINDING. For information regarding children and the educational system you can visit chirpintl.com and look under research for paper i have written. See more

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in the beginning

Dr. J. Murray Rusk, Optometrist In addition to comprehensive eye examinations, Rusk JM, FCOVD, Optometrists Inc in Charlottetown offers examinations for vision related learning problems, post concussive and stroke problems affecting vision processing.