Dizziness & Balance (Vestibular) Rehabilitation

Vestibular Physiotherapy in Adelaide

Dizziness and balance problems are common and can have a significant impact on your everyday life. You may feel like the room is spinning, feel light-headed or unsteady, struggle in busy environments, or feel uncomfortable when moving your head.

At Advanced Neuro Rehab, our experienced Vestibular Physiotherapists assess and treat dizziness, vertigo, balance problems and other conditions affecting the vestibular system.

We provide vestibular physiotherapy in Adelaide to help you understand what may be causing your symptoms and develop an individualised rehabilitation program to help you return to the activities that are important to you.

What is vestibular physiotherapy?

Vestibular physiotherapy, also called vestibular rehabilitation, is an experienced area of physiotherapy focused on dizziness, vertigo, balance and problems with the vestibular system.

Your vestibular system is located in your inner ear and plays an important role in helping your brain understand:

• Where your head is positioned
• How your head is moving
• How your body is moving through space
• How to maintain your balance
• How to keep your vision stable while your head moves

The vestibular system works together with your eyes, muscles, joints and brain to help you stay balanced and orientated. When one or more of these systems is not working effectively, you may experience dizziness, vertigo, unsteadiness or difficulty tolerating movement.

How can vestibular physiotherapy help?

Vestibular physiotherapy aims to help your brain and body better process information from your vestibular system, eyes, muscles and joints. Your treatment will depend on the cause of your symptoms and may include:

Vestibular assessment

We take a detailed history and assess your eye movements, balance, head movements, vestibular function and other factors that may be contributing to your symptoms. Where appropriate, we may perform specific positional tests to investigate conditions such as BPPV.

Balance rehabilitation

Balance exercises can help your brain integrate information from your eyes, inner ears and body more effectively. Exercises are progressed according to your abilities and goals.

Gaze stability exercises

Some vestibular conditions can affect your ability to keep your vision clear while your head is moving. Gaze stability exercises can help retrain the systems responsible for maintaining clear vision during head movement.

Habituation and motion sensitivity exercises

If certain movements or environments make you dizzy, carefully graded exposure can help your brain become less sensitive to these movements over time.

Positional treatment

Some types of vertigo, particularly BPPV, can be treated using specific head and body movements designed to reposition particles within the inner ear.

Walking and functional rehabilitation

Dizziness can affect your confidence when walking, exercising, driving or participating in everyday activities. We can incorporate your individual goals into your rehabilitation program so that exercises are relevant to your daily life.

Your vestibular physiotherapy assessment

Your first appointment will involve a detailed discussion about your symptoms and how they affect your everyday life. We may assess:

• Eye movements
• Head movements
• Vestibular function
• Balance
• Walking
• Neck movement and function
• Visual dependence
• Motion sensitivity
• Positional dizziness
• Functional movement
• Exercise tolerance

The assessment is tailored to your symptoms. Not everyone requires every test. We will explain what we are assessing and why, and work with you to develop a rehabilitation plan based on your findings and goals.

Conditions we treat

Vestibular physiotherapy is used across a range of conditions affecting dizziness, vertigo and balance. Each of these has its own page explaining the condition and how physiotherapy can help.

• Dizziness
• Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV)
• Vestibular Migraine
• Vestibular Neuronitis / Neuritis
• Labyrinthitis
• Persistent Postural-Perceptual Dizziness (PPPD)
• Ménière’s Disease
• Endolymphatic Hydrops
• Migraine
• Cervicogenic Dizziness
• Falls Prevention & Balance

Vestibular physiotherapy across Adelaide

Advanced Neuro Rehab has a strong clinical focus on vestibular and neurological rehabilitation. Our physiotherapists have experience assessing and treating a wide range of dizziness, vertigo and balance conditions.

We are involved in research into the vestibular control of balance, as well as many of the consequences of dizziness such as anxiety, depression, social isolation and falls. We have also been providing education sessions for medical practitioners and allied health professionals who wish to learn more about the acute and chronic assessment and treatment of these conditions for many years.

We understand that dizziness can be frightening and frustrating, particularly when you do not understand why it is happening. Our goal is to help you understand your symptoms, identify the factors contributing to your dizziness and provide practical strategies to help you regain confidence and return to the activities you enjoy.

We have clinics in Royston Park, Goodwood, Christies Beach and Allenby Gardens, providing vestibular physiotherapy across Adelaide. Contact us to book an assessment at your nearest clinic.