Vestibular Rehab Clinic in Edmonton

Vestibular rehab is a specialized treatment for dizziness, vertigo, balance/gait, or visual problems. These symptoms can stem from various issues but can make daily tasks such as getting out of bed, moving your head, or focusing on a computer screen difficult. This can be pretty scary not knowing what is going on with your body. Thankfully, our physiotherapists are trained to assess the vestibular (or inner ear) system, neck musculature, and vision to help identify the cause of your symptoms. They then can develop a treatment plan with individualized treatments to address the underlying cause.

Our vestibular system is the balance system of our inner ear. It helps us keep our balance, stabilize our head, and give information to our brain about our head movements. When we have an impairment in our vestibular system, the system cannot process information correctly, which causes us to have symptoms. Disorders of our vestibular system most commonly create feelings of dizziness or vertigo. Other symptoms may include nausea, vomiting, fatigue, visual disturbances, difficulty concentrating, tinnitus (ear ringing), or balance issues. Vestibular disorders can often happen due to an unknown cause but sometimes is due to a variety of reasons such as head trauma, motor vehicle accidents, age-related changes, or even viral infections. Thankfully, physiotherapy can often help improve symptoms and help patients regain function through a personalized exercise program. Exercises can often include eye exercises, strength and balance training, and head/neck movements to help improve the function of our vestibular system.

A physiotherapist’s most common vestibular condition seen and treated is benign paroxysmal positional vertigo or BPPV. This type of vertigo is caused by the displacement of tiny crystals in our ear canals. The displaced crystal can cause significant dizziness when out of place, but our physiotherapists use a particular maneuver to place the crystal back to its original position carefully. This can significantly reduce vertigo symptoms. Other treatable conditions include Meniere’s disease, vestibular neuritis, and cervicogenic dizziness (dizziness stemming from the neck).