issue with cursor in Word

I am currently using MS Word (version 16.61) on a Mac with VoiceOver and a Braille display. I'm having an issue where every time I press the up or down arrow, VoiceOver begins reading from the beginning of the document rather than moving line by line. Navigating using VO L does not work either, meaning I have no way of navigating a document line by line. I can tell that the cursor is moving on the Braille display. However, normally a new line would begin on the far left of the Braille display. Currently, a new line simply appears as a space as if the document were one continuous line.
This would happen occasionally ever since I got this Mac in 2020. Previously, I could simply close and reopen a document and it would fix the problem. For the last three months, it happens on every document I open and there is no way around it that I have found. I've tried making sure there are no new updates, uninstalling and reinstalling word, and playing around with VoiceOver settings. I've contacted both Apple and Microsoft multiple times, and both simply say they can't help me and I need to contact the other company. It is nearly impossible to use Word like this, but I need to use Word a lot. I was wondering if anyone has experience this and found a way to solve it?