Do you feel light headed? Does it feel like your surroundings are moving when you actually don’t move? This dizziness can limit your physical activity and can cause unnecessary anxiety and fear if not treated at the right time.
Three systems maintain balance in our body:
- Vision
- Proprioception (sensory input from our feet, trunk, and spine)
- Vestibular (sensory input from inside the ear)
Brain stems integrate and process sensory input from these three systems. A malfunction of any of the three systems can affect balance and posture, usually leading to vertigo or dizziness. Vertigo is a condition in which a person feels as if they are moving or that items around them are moving when they are not. Vestibular disorders often result in vertigo.
Most commonly, vestibular dysfunction is caused by head injuries, ageing, or viral infections. Vestibular Rehabilitation disorders may also be caused or contributed to by other illnesses or by genetic or environmental factors. Vestibular causes of dizziness are BPPV, Disequilibrium, Autoimmune inner ear diseases, Cervicogenic dizziness, Cholesteatoma, Fluctuations in the middle ear pressure, Meniere’s disease etc. The most common cause of dizziness is BPPV, which accounts for 80% of the cases.
What is BPPV?
Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo or Bppv is caused due to a problem in the inner ear. Tiny calcium “stones” also called as Otoconia present inside the inner ear canals help you keep balance. These calcium carbonate crystals sometimes break and fall into our semicircular canals. Upon triggering the semicircular canal’s sensors, the dizziness is felt.
BBPV is a major contributor of dizziness mostly. Patients with BPPV are more likely to fall and have difficulty performing daily activities. Idiopathic BPPV is more frequent in the elderly and women, peaking between the ages of 50 and 60, with a female-to-male ratio of 2:1 to 3:1.
Patients often panic and are unsure of how to cope. The symptoms are made worse by anxiety and panic. Good news is that vestibular disorders are not major disorders and they can be treated by a vestibular rehabilitation therapist.
What to expect at River Physio?
Vestibular Rehabilitation is a simple and efficient therapy for patients with BPPV who want to improve their balance and manage their dizziness or vertigo.
A treatment plan will be created for you once we find you to be safe and fit for the treatment after a thorough examination. We specialize in treating patients who have balance and vestibular disorders at River physio. The differential diagnosis of BPPV requires careful evaluation of the cause, the side of the ear affected, and whether or not the ear canal is involved.
After our physiotherapist arrives at an appropriate diagnosis, we will perform specific maneuvers to re-calibrate your vestibular system. Furthermore if needed, you will be instructed to carry out exercises for dizziness reduction. Our vestibular rehabilitation methods include adaptation, substitution, and habituation.
Habituation
Systematically provoke symptoms to produce a reduction on those symptoms.
Adaptation
The vestibular system has a remarkable capacity for adapting to asymmetrical input. Adaptation refers to a long-term change in the vestibular system’s response to head movements. This effect is associated with vestibular compensation.
Substitution
In this case, alternative strategies are implemented to restore or restore function that has been lost or compromised.
It usually only takes one or two sessions for most patients to recover, but for others, it may take multiple sessions depending on how severe and chronic the condition is.
At River Physio, we treat you as a whole and individualise your treatment rather than focusing on a specific condition or a body part and that’s what makes us among the best Vestibular Rehabilitation clinics in Singapore.
