How Vestibular Rehabilitation Helps With Vertigo
Vertigo is the unsettling feeling that the floor is suddenly rising up to meet your face. It can be hard to get through and even make you feel nauseous. While it can be a sign of serious issues, vertigo and dizziness are often signs of problems with your neck or inner ear. Vertigo can also be related to stroke, brain trauma, head injury or chronic conditions like multiple sclerosis (MS).
To get rid of these uncomfortable, disruptive symptoms, you need to seek out the help of a physical therapist and vestibular rehabilitation.
What is Vestibular Rehabilitation?
Vestibular rehabilitation uses a combination of training and exercises to improve your balance and stop vertigo. Your vestibular system, which is contained in your inner ear, is responsible for your balance and your sense of where you are in space. If your vestibular system is injured in any way, it can cause vertigo.
After an evaluation to determine the cause of your vertigo, your physical therapist will design a personal therapy program that might include exercises like:
- Stretches to reduce tension in your neck and shoulders
- Strength training to help with posture and balance
- Neck mobility exercises to increase flexibility
- Walking exercises to improve balance
- Vision exercises to coordinate head and eye movements
- Adaptation exercises to get your brain used to movements that cause dizziness
- Repositioning procedures
Repositioning procedures involve moving your head in specific ways while you lie on a table. These procedures help realign the crystals in your inner ear to stop inner-ear-related vertigo.
Vestibular therapy is so effective it might be the only treatment you need to stop dizziness. For some patients, just a few appointments is enough to restore balance. Others will need one or two appointments per week for 6 to 8 weeks.
Vestibular rehabilitation is low-risk since it does not involve any medical procedures or medications. It can help anyone from kids to seniors safely get rid of their feelings of vertigo.
After your vestibular rehabilitation is complete, you should have fewer or no episodes of vertigo. You will also have improved balance, flexibility and strength, which can reduce your risk for falling and injuring yourself.
Physical therapists at Bon Secours Physical Therapy offer comprehensive vestibular rehabilitation to cure dizziness and help you move safely through the world. If you want to stop your vertigo, contact Bon Secours Physical Therapy to learn how we can help.