Vestibular disorders can affect your daily life. If you experience dizziness, spatial disorientation, balance problems, hearing loss, or changes in cognitive function, it is essential to get a diagnosis. You most likely have a vestibular disorder. Without prompt treatment, your symptoms may persist and cause life-threatening conditions.
Fortunately, vestibular rehabilitation can treat these disorders and restore balance. This article explores vestibular rehabilitation, the conditions it treats, and factors affecting the therapy’s length.
What Is Vestibular Rehabilitation?
Vestibular rehabilitation is a physiotherapy treatment that focuses on the vestibular system. The vestibular system consists of the inner ears and its connections to the brain. This system provides a sense of balance and spatial awareness of the head and body. It also controls some eye movements.
Vestibular disorders can significantly impact daily life. It is present with symptoms like dizziness, vertigo, and balance issues. Fortunately, with vestibular rehabilitation, physiotherapists at Cambie Physiotherapy can aim to restore the vestibular system’s function, improve balance, and enhance the overall quality of life.
Who Needs Vestibular Rehabilitation?
Vestibular rehabilitation in Surrey is primarily used to treat people with vestibular disorders. These disorders include;
- Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV)
- Labyrinthitis
- Vestibular neuritis
- Meniere’s disease
- Perilymphatic fistula (PLF)
- Vertigo
- Migraines
What To Expect During Vestibular Rehabilitation?
When you visit your physiotherapist for vestibular rehabilitation, you will undergo an assessment to identify the underlying cause of your disorder. The evaluation will include a detailed history of your symptoms, their intensity, and how they affect your daily activities. You will also undergo tests that check your posture, balance, coordination, and sensation.
Contact Your physiotherapist they will develop a specialized treatment plan. This treatment plan is very effective because it addresses your symptoms and the underlying cause of your vestibular disorder.
A vestibular rehabilitation program usually consists of exercises that help alleviate extreme dizziness, gaze instability, and lack of balance that causes falls.
How Long Does Vestibular Rehabilitation Take?
Some people experience improvements within a few weeks of vestibular rehabilitation in Surrey. Others may require several months of consistent therapy. The duration of treatment depends on the underlying cause, severity of symptoms, and individual response to treatment.
The Underlying Cause Of The Vestibular Disorder
The cause of your vestibular disorder determines the duration of your treatment. For instance, BPPV is a common cause of dizziness and vertigo. Therefore, you should see improvement within a few days to two weeks of consistent rehabilitation. On the other hand, if the disorder is due to Meniere’s disease, a more chronic condition, it will take longer to see improvements.
Severity Of Symptoms
If you experience more severe symptoms, it will take longer to see an improvement compared to a patient with milder symptoms.
Age
Age affects the response to treatment. For example, older patients may take longer to recover from a vestibular disorder than younger people.
Consistency Of Treatment
Consistent treatment is crucial to how long it takes vestibular rehabilitation to work. In addition, you will experience improvements faster if you consistently perform your vestibular exercises.
Vestibular Rehabilitation Exercises
Vestibular rehabilitation exercises are relatively straightforward. However, you have to be consistent with the treatment to experience improvements. At first, the exercises may worsen your symptoms. But this is because you are doing the exercises correctly. With time, the symptoms will decrease and become more manageable.
Physiotherapy in Surrey recommends vestibular rehabilitation exercises like habituation, gaze stabilization, and balance training.
Habituation Therapy
Habituation therapy is often prescribed for patients that experience dizziness, especially during head movements, changes in position, or exposure to visually stimulating places. However, this therapy is not recommended for people that experience spontaneous dizziness that does not worsen with head movements or added visual stimuli.
Habituation therapy involves repeated exposure to triggers. The treatment starts with mild to moderate movements to provoke your dizziness. Physiotherapy in Surrey will ensure that your symptoms return to their baseline before moving on to another set of exercises.
With time, the intensity of your dizziness will decrease because your brain is learning to ignore the abnormal or incorrect signals causing dizziness. Although habituation therapy is uncomfortable, you should experience great results with compliance and perseverance.
Gaze Stabilization
Gaze stabilization helps to improve control over eye movements. This therapy is suitable for patients that can’t see clearly because things seem to be jumping or bouncing around, especially when reading or trying to point out objects from a distance. People that need gaze stabilization exercises are often triggered when in motion.
There are two types of eye and head exercises for improving gaze stability. The best exercise for you will depend on your vestibular disorder and its severity. Your physiotherapist in Surrey will prescribe the best for you.
One of the gaze stability exercises involves fixating your eyes on an object while you move your head repetitively. The repetitive motions may be back and forth and up and down movements.
Balance Training
Balance training exercises improve steadiness throughout your body, allowing you to perform daily activities like walking, exercising, and doing household chores. Balance exercises may challenge you, but they are safe enough to prevent falls.
These exercises help you walk on uneven ground and improve movements like bending, walking, standing, or reaching.
Conclusion
Dizziness and loss of balance impact your daily life and the quality of your life. Fortunately, Cambie Physiotherapy offers vestibular rehabilitation to help you regain your balance and reduce your symptoms. Our personalized approach focuses on your symptoms, their severity, and their underlying cause. Therefore, with consistent treatment, you can return to your daily activities quickly.