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Do you suffer from dizziness, vertigo or loss of balance?

buretaphysio
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Vestibular rehabilitation is an effective treatment for these symptoms caused by an inner ear dysfunction. The vestibular system sits deep in your inner ear and is made up of three semi-circular canals and the utricle and saccule.The semi-circular canals detect rotational head movement and the utricle and saccule detects linear and vertical head movement. The brain receives information from both vestibular systems, your eyes, receptors in your joints and muscles to maintain balance/equilibrium. When the system is damaged then the information sent to the brain is altered and results in symptoms such as dizziness.   Common causes of vestibular dysfunction are:
  • Labrynthitis
  • Vestibular neuritis
  • BPPV (Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo)
  • Menieres disease
  • Acoustic neuroma
  • Oxotoxicity damage to the system from the use of some medications
Other causes of vestibular dysfunction can also benefit from vestibular rehabilitation including:
  • Post stroke
  • Post head injury: Positional vertigo and particularly BPPV is the most common cause of severe dizziness - it is also common post head injury and can be recognised by the pattern of dizziness which is reproduced when the head is placed in a certain position.
There can be other serious causes of dizziness which need to be evaluated by your doctor or specialist to determine whether vestibular rehabilitation is appropriate for you. How this is treated is dependent on the cause and can include:
  • Specific head, body and eye exercise:
  • Gaze Stabilisation
  • Balance
  • Gait and Strengthening exercises
(These exercises will be performed in the clinic 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 and muscles and joints.)
  • Canal repositioning techniques (for BPPV). When you suffer from BPPV the dizziness is a result of otoconia (small crystals) moving into the semi-circular canals most commonly the posterior canal. With specific techniques and different head positions the crystals can be shifted back out of the canals reducing dizziness.
  If you have been suffering from dizziness vestibular rehabilitation can be an effective treatment option for you so contact us now on 075761860 to book an initial vestibular contact (one hour appointment) or contact me directly for further information donna@buretaphysio.co.nz.