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Vestibular Rehabilitation
November 15, 2009 |
It’s all in your head – literally. More doctors are recommending a specialized form
of therapy to help people get rid of vertigo. “Ideally, if it’s a vertigo problem
that could be amendable through physical therapy, the doctor would recommend vestibular
rehabilitation,” advises Lee Memorial Health System physical therapist, Nathalie
Grondin.
This intricate form of therapy involves special head exercises. “What
we do is a
lot of position changes for the head because that involves the inner ear,” she says.
Most vertigo incidents happen because of fluid or calcium buildup in the inner ear.
Therapists like Nathalie Grondin use a variety of head movement techniques to keep
the inner ear unclogged. “General balance exercises to make sure the person doesn’t
fall. Eye head coordination exercises. Oftentimes, inner ear problems lead to visual
problems,” explains Grondin. These problems can come on gradually. “In fact, a lot
of people will go see their eye doctor and say ‘I can’t see right ‘and their eye
exam is perfectly normal. It’s because when they are tested, their head is still.
The inner ear involves a head movement, that’s when the vision can be damaged if
you will.”
Grondin says vertigo affects more adults than it does children. “Moving the head
is key. It’s so interesting because children do that naturally. They just spin and
spin around and love to make themselves dizzy to the point where they naturally
fall. But what they are doing is retraining their vestibular system, the inner ear,
to work for them, for them to handle themselves in their environment.”
In some cases patients can see success in just a few therapy sessions.
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