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Dizziness and vertigo are symptoms of various medical conditions including inner ear problems. A common condition is Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo, which is the result of calcium carbonate crystals breaking off from a structure within the inner ear and entering another part of the inner ear. When you move your head or body, the crystals move and stimulate the nerve endings within the inner ear, making you feel vertigo, or a spinning sensation. Symptoms that accompany this feeling of dizziness include nausea, tinnitus and clogged ears. Positional vertigo is common, affecting approximately 40 percent of people over 40 years old. The solution for many is to wait for the sensation to go away. However, did you know that vertigo can be treated with physical therapy, often in as little as one office visit?
Balance and Vestibular Rehabilitation
At Integrated Rehab, we have physical therapists on staff who are experienced and educated in the treatment of neurological balance disorders like vertigo. We uniquely provide these services in an outpatient setting. You can come to us without being admitted to a hospital. Depending on the initial assessment of your condition, we will use very specific techniques to improve your symptoms. These include positional maneuvers of the head and neck, oculomotor exercises to check for irregular eye movement, balance retraining and motion tolerance. Vestibular rehabilitation for conditions other than positional vertigo takes one of three approaches: habituation, gaze stabilization or balance training.
Habituation
This course of treatment is best for those who become dizzy from self-motion or visual stimuli. It typically does not help people who have non-spontaneous dizziness. If you become light-headed from standing up, turning around or in overwhelming environments like a shopping mall, our PTs will treat you with repeated exposure to these circumstances. The goal is to teach your brain to ignore the signals from the inner ear that cause dizziness.
Gaze Stabilization
If you have vision troubles when reading, walking or looking around, the gaze stabilization approach will be most effective. For those who have unilateral or bilateral ear damage, the PTs at Integrated will teach you gaze shifting exercises, which use both your vision and body sense. Gaze stabilization exercises for those who have vestibular function involve fixating on an object while moving your head and body. This exercise teaches your eyes to focus without causing dizziness.
Balance Training
Some patients come to Integrated Rehab for unsteadiness when performing everyday tasks. This type of balance disorder makes you unsteady on your feet while standing, bending, turning, reaching or walking. It is a common affliction for older individuals who have experienced a fall. A physical therapist will work with you to perform moderately challenging exercises to test your balance. Specifically, dynamic movements in a safe environment that keep you on your feet and promote steadiness.
Vestibular rehabilitation is used not only for vertigo, but for victims of stroke, concussion or a slip and fall accident. To balance your life, contact Integrated Rehab today.