{"id":941,"date":"2014-03-18T16:15:34","date_gmt":"2014-03-18T16:15:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shardcore.org\/shardpress\/?p=941"},"modified":"2023-03-31T17:13:22","modified_gmt":"2023-03-31T17:13:22","slug":"cockeyed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shardcore.org\/spx\/2014\/03\/18\/cockeyed\/","title":{"rendered":"Cockeyed"},"content":{"rendered":"

As I mentioned previously<\/a>, I recently fell off my bicycle, onto my head. This had a number of negative effects, a broken arm and a severe concussion amongst them. Though by far the most troubling (and currently persisting) injury has been to my Trochlear Nerve<\/a>. I’d never heard of it before, and I suspect neither have you, but it is a nerve which travels from the back of the brainstem to control some of the muscles of the eye.
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\n\"trochlear
\n<\/center>
\nIt’s long and thin and easily damaged by a blow to the head. It’s the only nerve which comes out of the back of the brainstem, an evolutionary ‘feature’ which can be traced back to the first vertebrates about 525 million years ago. A ‘feature’ which is fine if you’re a fish, but less so if you’re a large-brained, bipedal primate, who likes to ride a bicycle.
\nThe practical result is that my eyes no longer converge properly, producing a form of double vision known as tortional diplopia<\/a>.
\nIt has a non-medical name as well.
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\n\"definition\"
\n<\/center>
\nThe first definition is pretty accurate, both eyes are awry, tilted, misaligned. The second is a bit less flattering and better describes my post-concussive state, rather than the effect on my vision. The etymology of the word is unclear, though one can understand how someone with their eyes pointing outwards (in extreme cases of trochlear nerve damage) may look like a cockerel. Perhaps it’s the association of a blow to the head with the confusion of concussion which leads to the second definition. Spinning, non-aligned eyeballs certainly feature heavily in the lexicon of cartoons, a visual shorthand for the effect of being struck in the head.
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\n\"micky90\"
\n<\/center>
\nIn practice it means the information being delivered by my eyes together is unusable.
\nBasically, this:
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