Vestibular Archives - Catalyst Physical Therapy & Wellness

It could mean feeling light-headed like you are going to pass out, feel off-balance, feel like you just stepped off a boat (Mal de debarquement), or could be that the room is spinning or you are spinning (vertigo).

The way you describe your dizziness leads expert clinicians to hone in on the root cause so that the appropriate treatment can be provided.

Advanced trained physical therapists can evaluate and treat dizziness as they are movement experts that can provide the correct treatment right away so the dizziness can be relieved either right away or as fast and as soon as possible.

One form of vertigo, BPPV, can be evaluated and treated right away by a Vestibular Physical Therapist with an 80% success rate according to the highest levels of scientific evidence!¹

Unfortunately, many patients do not know to see these expert Vestibular Physical Therapists right away and go to the ER, urgent care or primary care MD clinics and according to studies completed by physicians only 10-20% of patients with BPPV seen by a physician receive appropriate repositioning manuevers.²

It is my duty to educate everyone, share what I have learned and get patients the care they need and deserve right away! This delay is also costly, when patients do not improve right away their body adapts to the dizzy state leading to a longer recovery!

I have personally had a patient who had been dizzy for 3 years come see me once and I treated his BPPV and his dizziness was completely resolved in one visit! His doctor put him on allergy medication for 3 years and it didn’t change a thing! Is this the doctor’s fault? No! This is a healthcare system failure where patients are not getting to the trained providers like vestibular physical therapists that have the time to fully assess the vestibular system and treat it properly. Primary care physicians on average have on average 15-25 min to see their patients but physical therapists at Catalyst have 1 hour evaluations to devote to our patients, we are so lucky to have this time to assess and treat our patients!

In California, many PPO insurances support patients directly accessing physical therapists for 12 visits or the first 45 days of treatment. If the doctor does not evaluate and treat your dizziness with bedside tests and your dizziness persists then you need to see vestibular physical therapist right away, your doctor can refer you or you can go directly and the Vestibular Physical Therapist can bill your insurance under direct access.

Physical therapists get a small amount of training in vestibular evaluation and treatment in their graduate curriculum, so you want a clinician with advanced training or certification.

Vestibular therapists can also refer you to the correct specialist MD’s (neurotologists), ENT’s, and audiologists. Not all ENT’s or audiologists specialize in vestibular testing and treatment just like not all physical therapists. So you need to ask if they specialize in vestibular evaluation and treatment.

Let’s eliminate dizziness together by getting the right care right away by the most trained providers!

1. M von Brevern, et al. Short-term efficacy of Epley’s manoeuvre: a double blind randomised trial, J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 2006;77:980-982.
2. Bhattacharyya, et al. Clinical Practice Guideline: Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (Update), Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, 2017, Vol 156 (3S) S1-S47.