Tyler Guymon, AZOPT Buckeye clinic manager and doctor of physical therapy
If you have ever woken up one day experiencing symptoms of dizziness and vertigo without knowing why, you are not alone. While many cases of dizziness and vertigo can be traced to a specific incident, many times, patients can’t recall the moment these symptoms began. Dizziness and vertigo can be caused by many different factors. Today, we will discuss the two more common types we see at Arizona Orthopedic Physical Therapy (AZOPT).
Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV)
Symptoms of BPPV include dizziness, a sense of spinning, loss of balance, nausea and vomiting that is most commonly caused by change in position.
BPPV is caused by small crystals in the inner ear that have become dislodged or out of place, possibly due to some type of head trauma or, in rare occasions, prolonged head positions, such as being in a dentist chair.
During treatment, a licensed physical therapist will assist the patient through a series of positions to help move the crystals back into place where they belong.
Hypo-functioning of the Inner Ear
Symptoms are similar to those patients experience with BPPV: dizziness, spinning, loss of balance and nausea. However, these symptoms usually are not affected by specific movements of the head. They can come and go at any moment. Most patients will feel that their equilibrium is off.
The cause of hypo-functioning of the inner ear includes ototoxicity, meningitis, sequential vestibular neuritis, progressive disorders, autoimmune disorders, chronic inflammatory peripheral polyneuropathy, congenital loss and neurofibromatosis. This type of condition is considered idiopathic, meaning it is too hard to determine an actual “cause” of the condition.
During treatment, a licensed physical therapist will help the patient through balance activities and exercises, habituation exercises to retrain the brain to compensate for the altered input into the brain, visual tracking exercises and complex exercises to help with multitasking and to challenge the inner ear.
Thankfully, both types of dizziness are treated by a doctor of physical therapy. If you are experiencing dizziness or a loss of balance, please contact any one of our AZOPT locations at 623-242-6908. For more information on BPPV, please visit www.AZOPT.net/bppv-vertigo. In the meantime, visit www.AZOPT.net/dizziness for exercises to help with a hypo-functioning inner ear symptoms. These exercises attempt to sync the visual system and vestibular system and are important for equilibrium.