Vestibular/Balance Treatments

Balance and the Inner Ear

Our balance system, or vestibular system, helps us walk, run and move without falling by processing signals from the senses to the brain. The vestibular system is located in the inner ear, which is why you may feel disoriented or dizzy when you have an ear infection.

Sensations of dizziness or vertigo can be caused by a number of things. Your vestibular system takes in information from the eyes, ears, skin and other sensory organs. A condition in any of these systems could impact your balance. This is why a comprehensive assessment should be performed early in the treatment process.

Dangers of a Vestibular Disorder

Anyone who has experienced involuntary dizziness knows how serious this condition can be. When you can’t feel steady on your feet, your risk of falling dramatically increases. In turn, your risk of suffering a head or back injury also rises and in severe cases these injuries can last a lifetime.

Walk Steadily Again

Our skilled audiologists diagnose and treat people who have impaired balance, dizziness, vertigo and other conditions. In many cases, a patient’s care is coordinated by a team of multidisciplinary professionals, each working to address the various symptoms and causes. Your care team may include:

• Audiologists
• Ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialists, also known as otolaryngologists
• Neurologists
• Physical therapists

Vestibular/Balance Rehabilitation

If you are someone who lives in fear of falling, sometimes feels like the room is spinning, or is afraid of stepping off of a curb, you may be among the estimated 69 million Americans who have some sort of vestibular dysfunction. Symptoms caused by the condition may be alleviated by balance/vestibular rehabilitation.

The rehabilitation process is primarily exercise-based. While it isn’t common for patients to regain complete function of their vestibular system after developing balance disorder symptoms, these exercises will retrain the brain to compensate, relying on other bodily senses. Therapists will customize exercises to your condition using three primary methods: habituation, gaze stabilization and balance training.

Balance Disorders We Treat

• Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. Unlike simple dizziness, a person with vertigo will see their environment spinning. The sensation can be triggered by repositioning the head or body
• Labyrinthitis. Typically, a virus such as the cold or flu is the source of labyrinthitis. Common symptoms include hearing loss, dizziness and vertigo
• Vestibular neuritis. Viruses will also sometimes result in vestibular neuritis. However, the primary difference between vestibular neuritis and labyrinthitis is that hearing isn’t affected in the latter condition
• Ménière’s disease: Common symptoms include vertigo, tinnitus (ringing in the ears), loss of hearing, and ear pressure. The condition usually begins in one ear and may later appear in the other
• Inner ear concussion syndrome. Usually brought on by head trauma, inner ear concussion syndrome may cause vertigo, postural imbalance, vomiting, nausea, tinnitus and loss of hearing
• Traumatic brain injury. Violent blows to the head by an outside force can result in traumatic brain injuries. Symptoms include loss of balance, blackout, dizziness, fatigue or fainting
• Stroke. Strokes are brought on by disruption of the brain’s blood supply, causing difficulty walking, talking and comprehending. Paralysis of limbs or the face is also common. A person experiencing a stroke may also exhibit a loss of balance, lightheadedness or vertigo
• Post-concussion syndrome. Often characterized as the persistence of symptoms weeks or months after the injury that caused the concussion. Common symptoms include headache and dizziness

If you are frequently dizzy or disoriented, you should seek medical treatment as soon as possible. A medical professional can help you manage the symptoms of vestibular disorders while working on a more permanent solution.