Vestibular Rehab

Vestibular Rehabilitation

What is vestibular rehabilitation?

Vestibular rehabilitation is a treatment option for a range of conditions that affect the inner ear and your sense of balance, dizziness, light-headedness, spinning, and nausea. Using treatment maneuvers and/or exercises, we can improve these symptoms. Sometimes only one or two sessions can significantly reduce symptoms or eliminate them altogether (BPPV - see below).

What could cause vestibular problems?

The most common causes for vestibular dysfunction include some of the following diagnoses:

• Neck and migraine related dizziness

• Acoustic Neuroma

• Vestibular Neuritis

• Labyrinthitis

• Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV)

• Meniere’s syndrome

Even without a known diagnosis though, treatment directed at the symptoms stated above can be effective.

What does a physical therapy evaluation consist of?

An initial evaluation, using non-invasive tests, would be required to identify the likely cause of the vestibular problem. These tests would include;

• Eye tests

• Balance tests

• Positional tests

• Gait analysis

If the results are inconclusive or the symptoms are more complex you may be referred for further medical tests to confirm the cause of your vestibular issues.

What would vestibular treatment involve?

Typically treatment would involve a combination of advice on activity modification, repositioning maneuvers (for BPPV), specific movement exercises, eye movement exercises, and balance retraining. Treatment options include:

• Repositioning maneuvers

• Gaze Stability Retraining

• Balance Retraining Exercises

• Functional task practice

• Self management strategies

• Graded exposure program to difficult situations

How successful is vestibular rehabilitation therapy?

Many times, vestibular rehabilitation therapy will be the only treatment needed. Other times, it is a part of a multidisciplinary treatment plan. In most cases, if patients continue to perform the exercises they have learned, balance and dizziness problems decrease significantly or completely disappear.