Vestibular Rehabilitation
Vestibular Rehabilitation refers to the rehabilitation of people after damage, disease or injury to the vestibular organs. When this happens the brain can no longer rely on them for accurate information about balance and movement. This often results in dizziness, vertigo, balance problems, and other symptoms. For example, a person with a vestibular disorder might turn the entire body rather than just the head when turning to look at something or have a tendency to touch or hold onto something when standing, or to touch or hold the head while seated. These strategies can often cause headache, muscle tension, and tiredness.
The goal of Vestibular Rehabilitation is to retrain the brain to recognize and process signals from the vestibular system in coordination with your eyes, muscles and joints. This often involves desensitizing the balance system to movements that provoke symptoms.
Symptoms may include:
- Spinning or whirling sensation; an illusion of movement of self or the world (vertigo)
- Lightheaded, floating, or rocking sensation (dizziness)
- Stumbling, difficulty walking straight or turning a corner
- Difficulty maintaining straight posture; tendency to look downward to confirm the location of the ground
- Head may be held in a tilted position
- Difficulty finding stability in crowds or in large open spaces
- Trouble focusing or tracking objects with the eyes; objects or words on a page seem to jump, bounce, float, or blur or may appear doubled
- Discomfort from busy visual environments such as traffic, crowds, stores, and patterns
- Difficulty walking in the dark
- Sudden loud sounds may increase symptoms of vertigo, dizziness, or imbalance
- Nausea or vomiting
What happens during Vestibular Rehabilitation?
A Physiotherapist will conduct a thorough hour-long assessment that begins with a medical history and includes observing posture, balance and gait. The assessment may also include eye-head coordination tests that measure how well a person’s eyes track a moving object with or without head movement. Using the assessment results, the therapist will develop an individualized treatment plan that includes specific head, body, and eye exercises to be performed both in the therapy setting and at home. These exercises are designed to retrain the brain to recognize and process signals from the vestibular system and coordinate them with information from your eyes, muscles and joints. The key to a successful rehabilitation plan is accurate identification of the problem and a systematic and progressive program of exercises. Exercises prescribed depend directly on the underlying cause of your dizziness.
Who may benefit from Vestibular Rehabilitation?
Vestibular Rehabilitation can help with a variety of vestibular problems that includes rehabilitation of balance between attacks in people with Ménière’s disease and individuals with long-term unresolved inner ear disorders who have undergone a period of medical management with little or no success.
Conditions may include:
- Vestibular Neuritis/ Labyrinthitis
- Acoustic Neuroma(after surgery)
- Benign Paroxismal Positional Vertigo(BPPV)
For further reading please visit the following website:
If you think you may benefit from seeing a neurological physiotherapist you can ring 020 89718021 to make an appointment. Alternatively you can ask your consultant or GP to make a referral. Your health insurance may cover physiotherapy treatment or you can pay privately.
If you would like more information about our Vestibular Rehabilitation service, please get in contact with us by phoning 020 8971 8000 or use our contact page.
