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Balance Treatments

Once the cause of your dizziness and imbalance is properly diagnosed, your ear, nose & throat doctor will select the appropriate strategy to treat and monitor your progress with a specialized therapy program. Standard dizziness, vertigo, and balance treatments range with the following approaches:

Avoidance

The following tips can be immediately implemented to managing dizziness by avoiding problem positions, activities, and medications.

  • Monitor your blood pressure and contact your family physician if it is very high or very low. Diabetics also need to monitor blood sugar. There are many cause of dizziness not related to inner ear issues.
  • Sit or lie down immediately when dizzy and do not walk without assistance.
  • After standing up, count to 10 before walking.
  • Never exercise when dizzy unless directed otherwise by your therapist.
  • Stay in well-lit areas to rely on your vision for balance when dizzy.
  • Practice fall precautions as you are at a greater risk for fall when dizzy.
  • Do not walk while wearing reading glasses.
  • Do not walk while wearing bifocals/trifocals
  • Talk to your family physician about medications as some medications cause dizziness.

Diet

Monitoring diet can be useful in treating inner ear issues such as Meniere’s disease caused by excess fluid. Reducing sodium (salt) intake can help. The best way to do this is to eat only fresh food avoiding packaged, canned, or dried foods that add salt.

Medical

Most inner ear medicines are a temporary measure to alleviate symptoms rather than treat the cause. The Balance Center prescribes balance treatment medications that treat specific medical causes. Talk to your ear, nose, & throat doctor about what would be best for you.

Vestibular Rehabilitation

Our staff physical therapist evaluates and treats vestibular disorders with this specialized type of rehabilitation designed for your specific inner ear and balance disorder. Combinations of visual, balance, and strengthening exercises are used to help retrain the brain to compensate for any weaknesses occurring in the inner ear or Vestibular system.

Physical Therapy

Balance therapy is a specialized plan of treatment for patients that are unsteady on their feet, or experience dizziness or decreased mobility due to poor balance. Our fall prevention therapy program teaches special exercises, and shows ways to increase safety for patients that are motion sensitive, have fallen, or fear of falling. Other therapy treatments offered are also appropriate for patients recovering from hip or knee replacement, brain surgery, stroke, car accident, concussion, or neuropathy.

Repositioning

Canalith Repositioning Procedure (Epley or roll maneuver) is a vertigo and balance treatment which involves simple maneuvers for repositioning displaced inner ear crystals. Often, one treatment can eliminate dizziness immediately. If dizziness recurs, repeat treatments can be done. Each treatment takes about 20-30 minutes and can be done during a regular ear, nose, & throat doctor office visit.

Surgery

The physicians of the Balance Center can perform in-office surgical procedures that can lessen or stop vertigo with a steroid inner ear perfusion. This short procedure allows medicines to be instilled in the inner ear and can be much more effective than medications by mouth and avoid systemic effects. The placement of the medicine takes 5 minutes and patient will lie still for 20 minutes following the procedure.