Vestibular Rehabilitation
Our body’s sense of balance and spatial orientation is something we take for granted. But when illness or injury affects the body’s balancing system, it can lead to falls, reduced mobility, blurred vision, headaches, nausea, and other physical discomforts. The vestibular system, located in the inner ear, is often to blame. An important contributor to the body’s balancing, this system has three jobs to do:
- Detect the position of the head in space and on the body
- Ensure postural control
- Contribute to coordination of head and eye movement
Individualized treatments include:
- Vestibular Habituation/Adaptation Exercises: Based on the rationale that by repeating the movements that create dizziness or vertigo, the brain will adjust its response
- Vestibular Ocular Exercises: Combine head and eye movements in progressively more complicated combinations and positions to reduce vertigo symptoms
- Balance Retraining: Involves exercises designed to improve coordination of muscle responses, as well as the organization of sensory information for balance control
- Gaze Stabilization Exercises: Reduce retinal image “slipping,” which contributes to the sense of imbalance
- Compensatory Strategies: To help minimize the effects of vestibular loss of function
- Cardiovascular Exercises: To increase endurance
- Sensory Integration Strategies: Sensory and motor activities to help the brain better absorb and process sensory information
- Posture Education and Instruction in Ideal Head and Body Positioning
- Fall Prevention and Safety Training