Your inner ear does a lot more than help you to hear sound. It detects movement – up and down, forward and backward, and rotation of your head and body. There are specialized structures for each of these movements, and more! This information is sent into your brain and distributed to places like your eyes and your feet and it is compared to other sources of information as well. If any part of this system is not working properly, you may experience dizziness or vertigo, or feel off balance. You might even have other symptoms like nausea, ringing in the ears, or feelings of pain or pressure around the ear. We can help! We use specialized testing including in some cases the use of something called "infrared videonystagmography" that allows us to look at reflexes in your eyes in the dark. This helps us to determine where in this system the problem might be and allows us to better help you to recover from your problem
Treatment might include:
- Eye-head coordination exercises
- Balance training
- Exercise training
- Positional treatment for some kinds of vertigo, called "canalith repositioning maneuvers"
Example/common diagnoses
- Dizziness
- Vertigo
- Benign positional vertigo
- Vestibular labyrinthitis
- Vestibular neuritis
- Meniere's disease
- Migraine associated dizziness/vertigo
- Falls, imbalance