Vestibular rehabilitation

Vestibular rehabilitation is an exercise-based therapy that reduces dizziness and imbalance by helping the brain adapt to, compensate for, or substitute around impaired vestibular function.

Vestibulo-ocular reflex: A reflex that stabilizes vision by moving the eyes opposite to head movement. Gaze-stabilization exercises train this reflex when vestibular injury makes vision blur during head motion.
Unilateral vestibular hypofunction: Reduced function of the vestibular system on one side, often causing vertigo, imbalance, and visual blurring with head movement. Gaze-stabilization and balance exercises commonly address the resulting asymmetry.
Vestibular system: The inner-ear and brain pathways that detect head motion and orientation and contribute to balance and gaze control. Rehabilitation targets functions supplied by this system and its central connections.
Canalith repositioning procedure: A sequence of head and body positions used to move displaced otoconia out of a semicircular canal. It treats the mechanical cause of positional vertigo rather than training compensation through repeated exercise.
Vestibular adaptation: A process in which the brain recalibrates vestibular reflexes in response to repeated, appropriately dosed movement. Repeated head movements can improve gaze stability by recalibrating impaired reflexes.
Bilateral vestibulopathy: A chronic disorder in which vestibular function is reduced on both sides, impairing balance and vision during head movement. Rehabilitation emphasizes compensation and balance strategies when vestibular function is impaired bilaterally.
Vestibular function tests: Clinical and laboratory tests that assess the inner-ear balance organs and their reflex pathways. Test results help identify which functions are impaired before exercises are selected.
Vestibular suppressants: Medications that reduce vestibular symptoms, often by dampening activity in pathways involved in balance and nausea. Prolonged use can impede the sensory adaptation that exercise-based rehabilitation seeks to promote.
Habituation: A decrease in response to a repeated stimulus that occurs when the stimulus is not harmful. Repeated exposure to symptom-provoking movements can reduce dizziness over time.
Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo: A disorder in which displaced inner-ear otoconia cause brief, position-triggered episodes of vertigo. Canalith repositioning, rather than a general exercise program, is usually the primary treatment.

Linked from 11 pages