MOVE Athletics treats vertigo for people suffering from benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV)
What is Vertigo?
Vertigo is a fairly common phenomenon that creates the sensation of feeling unbalanced. Vertigo is not a specific condition or disease but rather a symptom that results from an issue in the inner ear or brain.
Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) is one of the most common causes of vertigo — the sudden sensation that you're spinning or that the inside of your head is spinning. BPPV causes brief episodes of mild to intense dizziness. It is usually triggered by specific changes in your head's position, which could be during simple tasks such as rolling over in bed, looking over your shoulder, moving from sitting to lying down, or standing and vice versa.
Causes & symptoms of vertigo:
Vertigo can be caused by a problem in the inner ear (peripheral vertigo), or by an issue in the brain or central nervous system (central vertigo). In the case of BPPV, small crystals inside of the ear called “otoconia” move around to places they aren’t meant to be inside of the inner ear, causing the brain to receive confusing messages about the position of your body.
BPPV is estimated to affect roughly 50% of all people at some time in their lives and becomes progressively more common with age.
Vertigo & BPPV Symptoms:
- Spinning sensation
- Nystagmus (involuntary rhythmic side-to-side, up and down, or circular motion of the eyes)
- Lightheadedness
- Fear of falling and/or Loss of balance
- Nausea and/or vomiting
The duration of vertigo with BPPV is brief, usually, five to 30 seconds but very occasionally lasts up to two minutes.
Recovery from vertigo:
While there are numerous ways to treat and recover from vertigo, physical therapy for vertigo has been one of the most successful forms of treatment.
Through the development of a personalized plan, your physical therapist can help you manage your symptoms and restoration balance during BPPV treatments such as the Brandt-Daroff, Semont, Foster, and Epley maneuvers, as well as other vestibular-specific rehabilitation exercises performed with head and neck movements to correct gaze instability.
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