DIZZINESS & BALANCE
Our practice offer a wide range of diagnostic assessments, working closely with other healthcare professionals, to determine the cause of your dizziness and balance disorder. Our test battery includes videonystagmography (VNG) testing, video head impulse testing (vHIT), as well Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potential (VEMP) testing. Once we have established the presence and site of the vestibular disorder we work with you to provide a customised exercise-based rehabilitation program to help reduce symptoms and improve your everyday functioning.
What is a vestibular disorder?
There are three common symptoms that you may experience if you have a vestibular disorder:
Vertigo: Here you may feel like the world is revolving around you or like you are revolving in space. There is a sense of spinning even while you are standing or sitting still.
Dizziness: This is a disturbed sense of your placement in relation to the world around you; a sense of unsteadiness that comes with moving your head. It is often accompanied by giddiness or lightheadedness.
Disequilibrium: Here you may feel a sense of unsteadiness or imbalance that is worsened by movement or environmental influences.
Take a quick hearing quiz:
Would you say that you...
| A sensation of motion, spinning, or falling when moving your head quickly, or changing your position (for example, when getting in and out of bed)? | Yes | No |
| Uncomfortable trying to walk in the dark? | Yes | No |
| That walking down grocery store aisles or through a mall is disturbing? | Yes | No |
| Your feet just won’t go where you want them to? | Yes | No |
| A sense of unsteadiness? A feeling that you are not surefooted? | Yes | No |
| A fear of falling or stumbling? | Yes | No |
| That looking at moving objects like escalators or looking out of the side window of a car makes you queasy? | Yes | No |
| Difficulty keeping your balance as you walk on different surfaces, e.g. from tile to carpet? | Yes | No |
| That you are drifting or being pulled to one side when walking? | Yes | No |
| That no-one really understands how frustrating all this is? | Yes | No |
If you answer ‘Yes’ to two or more of these questions, it’s time to consider a vestibular and equilibrium evaluation. The good news, however, is that in 90% of cases, these balance disorders can be successfully treated once they are properly diagnosed.
Again, if you have two or more of these symptoms, please contact us today. We can help.
Our assessments
Equilibrium carries out a wide range of assessments. Yours may include:
- Diagnostic hearing assessment
- Positional and positioning assessment
- Videonystagmography (VNG)
- Auditory Brainstem
- Response (ABR) testing
- Vestibular Evoked
- Myogenic Potentials
- (VEMPS)
- Video Head-Impulse Test (vHIT)
Our management
At Equilibrium, we offer our dizzy patients customised exercise-based programs aimed at reducing the associated symptoms that are associated with a vestibular pathology (disease or disorder),including vertigo, dizziness, and disequilibrium,. This is known as Vestibular Rehabilitation Therapy (VRT).
Why exercise rather than medication? Research has found that, over the long term, medications that suppress vestibular function can cause drowsiness and limit a person’s ability to function fully. VRT is an alternative treatment protocol, involving specific exercises that eliminate or significantly reduce the symptoms of vertigo, disequilibrium and dizziness, and promote recovery.
MELROSE NORTH
Blubird Medical Suites
Blubird Shopping Mall Level 1
Cnr Atholl Oaklands & Cross Streets
Melrose North
OFFICE HOURS
OFFICE HOURS
Monday – Friday | 08:30am – 16:30pm
