Vestibular Rehabilitation

What is Vestibular Rehabilitation?

Vestibular rehabilitation is a physiotherapy lead treatment program for those presenting with vestibular dysfunction which most commonly presents as dizziness or vertigo, motion sensitivity and balance difficulties as a result of inner ear pathology. Vestibular dysfunction can also present with a multitude of other symptoms including headaches, nausea, blurry vision or light headedness. There are many different causes of vertigo but symptoms are often as a result of your balance systems and inner ear reporting different information to your brain, causing symptoms to arise.

The goal of vestibular rehabilitation is to reduce dizziness symptoms and improve your balance and stability while walking to improve your quality of life.

What can we treat:

Vestibular rehabilitation is beneficial for a variety of different client presentations. This includes those presenting with new onset dizziness or vertigo or long-standing balance and vertigo concerns from pathologies most commonly including:

How can our physiotherapists help you:

Our physiotherapists who provide vestibular rehabilitation have undergone further postgraduate training to be able to work with clients who have vestibular dysfunction. Our physiotherapists will complete a thorough assessment of your vestibular system to confirm the cause of your dizziness. This will often involve the use of Infrared video goggles to get an accurate insight into what is happening in your inner ear and central nervous system. Following this, our clinicians will develop an individualised management program related directly to your impairments and goals. This could include treatment provided in the clinic during your session as well as home exercises and balance exercises to best manage your concerns.

Research has shown that vestibular rehabilitation is effective at treating a wide variety of symptoms related to vestibular dysfunction

Hall et al., 2016

Please note that vestibular rehabilitation is currently only offered at our Sunnybank Hills and Ipswich clinics.

Resources:
Hall, C. D., Herdman, S. J., Whitney, S. L., Cass, S. P., Clendaniel, R. A., Fife, T. D., Furman, J. M., Getchius, T. S. D., Goebel, J. A., Shepard, N. T., & Woodhouse, S. N. (2016). Vestibular Rehabilitation for Peripheral Vestibular Hypofunction: An Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guideline: FROM THE AMERICAN PHYSICAL THERAPY ASSOCIATION NEUROLOGY SECTION. Journal of Neurologic Physical Therapy, 40(2), 124–155. https://doi.org/10.1097/NPT.0000000000000120

Author: Britney Sullivan, Physiotherapist and Physiotherapist Clinical Lead BPhty (Hons 1), Grad Cert Neurological Rehabilitation