What is the Vestibular System?
The vestibular system includes the parts of the inner ear (the organs of balance), the pathways that lead to the brain, and the brain itself. It helps with:
- Balance
- Head and eye coordination
- Body and head movement
- Changes in position
If the system is damaged by disease, aging, or injury, vestibular disorders or balance difficulties can result.
What are symptoms of a Vestibular problem?
There are many symptoms associated with vestibular dysfunctions. Some of the typical symptoms include:
- Dizziness
- Vertigo
- Lightheaded
- Imbalance
- Difficulty concentrating
- Blurry vision or trouble with focusing
- Nausea
- Ear fullness and changes in hearing
What is Vestibular Rehabilitation?
Vestibular Rehabilitation Therapy (VRT) is an exercise-based program to help retrain the coordination between the brain, body and inner ear balance organs.
VRT can help with:
- Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV)
- Unilateral or bilateral vestibular hypofunction (weak inner ear function on one or both sides)
- Ménière’s disease
- Labyrinthitis
- Vestibular neuritis
- Persistent Postural Perceptual Dizziness (PPPD or 3PD)
- Mal de Débarquement
- Concussion
VRT is grounded in evidence-based medicine and has been extensively researched.
What can you expect from “Vestibular Physiotherapy”?
One of our qualified Physiotherapists will ask you questions about your symptoms and how they affect your everyday life. They will evaluate your balance and gait, motion sensitivity and severity of vertigo to help answer your questions about causes of your dizziness or balance problem. The duration of your assessment may be up to 75 minutes.
All of our treatments are one-on-one with a qualified Physiotherapist and are up to 40 minutes in duration.
Your treatment may include:
- Canal repositioning maneuver (commonly known as BPPV treatment like the Epley maneuver)
- Balance and gait exercises
- Head and eye coordination exercises
- Manual therapy like soft tissue techniques and mobilizations of the neck
- Strategies and education to reduce your symptoms
All of our treatments are INDIVIDUALIZED and are tailored to YOUR NEEDS.
Why choose VOR for your Vestibular concerns?
Our Physiotherapists have received extensive training in the management of vestibular issues. For years, we have invested heavily in diagnostic equipment to assess BPPV and motion sensitivity.
We have new technology to more accurately assess and monitor function of the vestibular system. Through diagnostic virtual reality testing, we can accurately track eye movements and function. We are the FIRST clinic in Ontario to provide this service to our patients. See the Saccade Analytics link below for further information.