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Overcome
Dizziness, Vertigo or Loss of Balance
We are specialist who can
help you retrain your balance system so that you can return to a more
active life style...
We will show you how to prevent falling
and avoid serious injury...
Ez-rehab one of only a few physical therapy practices that can provide Vestibular rehabilitation
treatment in Marin County.
Vestibular Rehabilitation is a therapeutic approach to assist with
disequilibrium and dizziness symptoms through the use of physical
therapy exercises specially designed to retrain your balance system and
help reduce your risk of falls.
Through our programs we will show you how to avoid falls reducing your
risk of further medical complications that come from severe falls.
Vestibular
Rehabilitation services apply to:
- Anyone who suffers
from vertigo, dizziness or a sense of imbalance.
- Anyone who has had
a stroke, head injury or concussion, a history of inner ear problems
or diabetes
- Anyone who
experiences dizziness or balance problems after a neck injury.
- Elderly
individuals who are more likely to develop a balance problem due to
decreased reaction times and movement speeds, medicines that damage
the inner ear and other conditions that affect balance.
- Anyone recovering
from an acoustic neuroma.
Benefits of Vestibular Rehabilitation:
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Decreases Vertigo
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Decreases nausea related to abnormal vestibular input
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Improves balance, coordination and awareness
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Decreases nystagmus
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Decreases reports of disequilibrium
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Optimizes visual-vestibular interaction
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Reducing falls or risks for falls
Our Vestibular
Therapy Process
We will first perform a thorough evaluation. This
includes observing posture, balance, movement, and compensatory
strategies.
Using the result of this
evaluation, we develop an individualized treatment plan
that will include exercises to be performed both in the therapy
department and at home and that combine specific head and body movements
with eye exercises.
Many times, treatment may
also include increasing activities and exercise in order to strengthen
muscles and increase tolerance for certain stimuli.
Some of the exercise and
activities may at first cause an increase in symptoms, as the body and
brain attempt to sort out the new pattern of movements. But with time
and consistent work, the coordination signals from the eyes,
proprioception, and vestibular system will occur.
Types of Exercises
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Vestibular-Ocular Reflex Stimulation Exercises
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Ocular Motor Exercises
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Balance Training Exercises
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Eye-Head Coordination Exercises
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Postural Exercises
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Gait Exercises
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Increase overall activity level
Most of our exercises are
designed to facilitate central nervous system (CNS) compensation rather
than altering the underlying vestibular pathology. An exception is the
treatment of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) which is aimed
at altering the underlying mechanism that produces vertigo and imbalance
rather than facilitating CNS adaptation.
If the brain cannot rely
on the information it receives from the vestibular system, a person's
ability to maintain posture and coordinate balance can become overly
dependent on vision or on the information received from the muscles and
joints (proprioception).
This can lead to
developing new patterns of movement to compensate for the change and to
avoid head movements that are apt to create symptoms of dizziness and
nausea.
What are the
Symptoms of Inner Ear Vestibular Pathology?
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Dizziness/vertigo
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Imbalance/unsteadiness
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Visual motor disturbances/nausea
Because the
vestibular system interacts with so many other parts of the nervous
system, secondary symptoms of memory problems, muscular
stiffness/imbalance/weakness, fatigue, headaches and anxiety may be
experienced.
What are
some of the Causes of Inner Ear Vertigo and Imbalance?
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Viral/bacterial infections
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Trauma
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Meniere's Disease
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Neuromas
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Ototoxicity
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Vascular ischemia
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Benign positional vertigo
General Information
For more information on
the Dizziness, Vertigo and Imbalance check out these reference websites:
Outline of Causes of Dizziness, Imbalance and
Hearing Disorders.
BENIGN PAROXYSMAL POSITIONAL VERTIGO
Balance and Vestibular Rehabilitation Therapy
Contact Us
Call us for an appointment
Phone: 415-381-9030 |