Vestibular Rehabilitation: New Hope for Living Safe and Dizzy Free
For those suffering from acute or unexplained dizziness or balance disorders, everyday living can be scary and uncertain. Anxiety, fear of falling, and countless doctor visits with no diagnosis can leave people feeling like hope has run out.
Since 1977, our simple, single-minded goal has been to restore the balance patients need to comfortably resume activities and enjoy a better quality of life. Using cutting-edge therapeutic technologies and techniques, Dr. Howard Mango and his team of doctors of audiology have successfully treated more than 30,000 patients for dizziness, vertigo, balance and inner-ear disorders. To date, more than 95% of all Institute patients have demonstrated measurable, clinical improvement following personalized dizziness therapy.
How your body maintains balance
The body is a miraculous machine that, when functioning normally, facilitates all tasks necessary for everyday living. The job of maintaining balance and equilibrium—which allow you to walk around comfortably and confidently, without feeling dizzy—depends mainly on three critical systems. Living a normal, productive life is related to the proper, simultaneous function of at least two of them:
- Visual—the eyes telegraphing to the brain the body’s movement and position in space
- Somatosensory— nerves in the skin, joints and muscles that inform the brain about body movement
and position
- The vestibular labyrinth—minute, inner-ear structures that continuously detect and adjust for gravity,
as well as vertical/horizontal motion and rotation of the head. Doctors label problems within the labyrinth “vestibular dysfunction.”
Common symptoms of vestibular dysfunction
Because of its inherent complexity and sensitivity, the labyrinth can be the source of numerous chronic
(and frequently debilitating) motion-intolerance and balance complaints, including:
- Vertigo, dizziness and balance problems
- Instability, disequilibrium, and frequent falling
- Motion sensitivity
- Benign positional vertigo
- Migraine-associated vertigo
- Meniere’s disease
Why VRT is our treatment of choice
For many patients, Vestibular Rehabilitation Therapy (VRT) offers new hope for living a safe and dizzy free life.
VRT is a proven, personalized approach that is frequently more effective in resolving vestibular symptoms than
other options, such as:
- General exercises—VRT is often more effective than non-targeted PT (physical therapy) or OT (occupational therapy) exercises because it targets and treats specific problematic areas within the visual, somatosensory and vestibular systems
- Medications—medicines may temporarily relieve discomfort by suppressing the vestibular system, but alone, they fail to address underlying physiological causes. For many VRT is better than medications alone.
- Settling for only partial relief—many times after their dizziness subsides, patients convince themselves that they feel “a little better” and stop seeking a long-term solution. This makes them even more vulnerable to future episodes and to harmful or potentially fatal falls.
- Doing nothing—With time, your dizziness may subside on its own. But that doesn’t mean your condition is gone. If the cause is viral, symptoms will recur each time the virus is activated. Individualized VRT, administered by Dr. Mango and his staff, can be effective in preventing future relapses.
Therapy is based on your individual results
The results of your auditory and vestibular evaluation will determine your personal VR therapy and treatment.
The Institute uses a proven, clinic-directed approach that includes personalized home-based exercises.
Typically, patients visit the clinic once or twice a week for up to six weeks or until their balance has returned. Overall success and outcome are determined by many factors, including physical health, age, cognitive abilities, presence of anxiety or psychological disorders, and of course, compliance with the home-exercise program.
A multi-million dollar investment in your health
As you can imagine, isolating and treating weak or non-functioning portions of tiny vestibular anatomy requires highly specialized testing with sophisticated diagnostic and therapeutic equipment. We have made this investment and are currently the only practice of our kind to offer such a unique and broad range of resources. This fact, coupled with our clinicians’ specialized training and expertise, distinguish the Institute from virtually all other institutions.
Call for information. Join us for a personal facility tour.
We understand the difficulties and challenges of living with dizziness and balance disorders, probably better than anyone. Bottom line is we’re here to help. To learn more about the Institute and how we can restore your hope for getting and feeling better, contact one of our audiologists today at (949) 274-8399.
We’ll be happy to answer questions about treatments, insurance, working with other physicians, or anything else you may want to know. Ask about scheduling a personal facility tour with your doctor, caregiver or family. Or feel free to contact us at drmango@dizziland.com.