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Dizziness and balance issues can be frustrating and affect your daily life. Common vestibular conditions like vertigo, labyrinthitis, and Meniere’s disease often cause these problems. Each of these conditions impacts your inner ear, which helps control your balance.
If you’ve ever felt a sudden spinning sensation, you might have experienced vertigo. It’s one of the most well-known vestibular issues and can make it hard to stand or walk. Other conditions like labyrinthitis involve inflammation in the ear, which can lead to similar balance problems.
Meniere’s disease is unique because it not only causes dizziness but also hearing loss and ringing in the ears. It’s important to recognize the symptoms of these conditions so you can seek proper treatment and improve your quality of life.
Anatomy and Function of the Vestibular System
The vestibular system is part of your inner ear. It helps maintain balance and spatial orientation.
Main Components
- Semicircular Canals: These three loops detect rotational movements.
- Otolith Organs: These structures, called the utricle and saccule, sense linear movements.
- Vestibular Nerve: This nerve sends information from the inner ear to your brain.
How It Works
The semicircular canals have fluid and tiny hair cells. When you move your head, the fluid shifts and bends the hairs.
The otolith organs also contain hair cells, along with tiny crystals. These crystals move when you tilt your head, sending signals to your brain.
Importance
Your brain gets data from these parts to keep you balanced. It combines this info with what you see and feel to help you stay upright and move smoothly.
Knowing how it works helps in recognizing vestibular disorders. If something goes wrong, it can lead to dizziness or balance problems.
Common Vestibular Conditions
1. BPPV
BPPV is a mechanical dizziness condition where calcium carbonate crystals become dislodged and enter the inner ear canal, disrupting the ability of the inner ear to correctly process head movement and creating a debilitating spinning sensation (vertigo) with certain positions or head movements. Luckily this is a very curable condition and can typically be resolved with 1-3 treatments.
Related Reading: What is Vertigo? Symptoms, Causes and Conditions
2. Vestibular Neuritis/Labyrinthitis
One of the most common causes of dizziness, typically associated with a viral inner ear infection, inflammation of the vestibular nerve and or cochlear nerve can create pressure, pain, hearing loss/tinnitus and dizziness. These symptoms typically have a severe acute period but can result in persistent symptoms if not addressed. Vestibular therapy can help with the management of acute flares, often in conjunction with medication, to decrease symptoms and regain function for people with ongoing symptoms.
3. Unilateral/Bilateral Vestibular Hypofunction
Loss of function of only one or both inner ear organs/nerves can present as loss of balance, dizziness and difficulty coping with movement-rich environments. Patients with this condition often suffer from oscillopsia, or blurred vision while moving. Vestibular rehabilitation is a key part of treatment in these conditions through exposure and compensation strategies.
4. Cervicogenic Dizziness
Did you know that dizziness can arise from neck pain? A mismatch of somatosensory information can trigger dizzy and unbalanced sensations in many. While this is a challenging and controversial diagnosis, a combination of neck treatment, exercise and vestibular rehab has been shown to be effective.
5. Concussion/TBI
After impact or whiplash injuries many systems in the brain can be negatively affected, including the function of the vestibular system. Vision and vestibular training are often key parts of concussion management.
6. Mal de Débarquement
A condition caused by the exposure to and then removal of a dynamic stimulus such as the pitch and roll of a boat, this occurs when patients experience vestibulo-ocular maladaptation and continue to experience symptoms even after leaving the boat and returning to dry land. Treatment is typically a combination of vestibular rehab and medication.
7. Ménière’s Disease
This is a condition caused by excessive fluid in the inner ear that presents with regular attacks of vertigo and often tinnitus or hearing loss. Treatment/management techniques include diet, vestibular rehab and medication.
8. Persistent Postural Perceptual Dizziness (PPPD)
A dizziness condition that appears following an attack of vertigo, often influenced by posture, position and environmental and social triggers. A multifaceted approach of vestibular rehab, medication and counselling is the gold standard for the management of PPPD.
9. Presbyvestibulopathy (PVP)
An age-related loss of balance and sensory function, similar to hearing loss, PVP is underdiagnosed and undertreated. Vestibular rehab can significantly improve age-related dizziness and balance, and greatly help mitigate risk of falls.
10. Secondary Endolymphatic Hydrops (SEH)
Similar to Meniere’s but typically less severe, SEH is a condition borne of excessive fluid pressure in the ear. This is managed through a series of diet and lifestyle changes. Medication may also play a role, as does vestibular rehab to improve motion sensitivity and balance.
11. Vestibular Migraine
Many migraine sufferers will experience dizziness symptoms associated with migraine in their lifetime. This is due to the vascular mechanisms of the migraine as well as neurological changes that occur during migraine attacks. Recognition and avoidance of triggers, medication and vestibular therapy is the most recognized treatment for this condition.
Visit Our Vestibular and Concussion Specialists in Langford and Millstream
In addition to treatment, we are also able to help identify when the above and other conditions require a referral. In these cases we connect with your physician to orchestrate a referral to the appropriate specialist for you. These conditions could include, among others: acoustic neuroma, semicircular canal dehiscence, perilymph fistula, vertebrobasilar insufficiency, neurotoxic vestibulopathy, CANVAS syndrome and vestibular paroxysmia.
