Precision Balance Testing and Treatment Solutions in Spring, TX
Are you a little less confident than you used to be when it comes to navigating a flight of stairs or even just a few steps up onto the porch? Do you become dizzy and off-balanced when you stand up from a chair?
More than 90 million Americans will experience vertigo, dizziness, and balance problems in their lifetime, and nine million individuals seek help from a doctor of audiology each year for these and similar conditions.
Dizziness and vertigo are more serious than the discomfort and inconvenience they cause. Balance-related falls are responsible for more than half of the accidental deaths in the elderly population and in excess of 300,000 hip fractures annually for individuals over the age of 65.
Your balance and the health of your ears are closely related.
That’s why the balance doctors at North Houston Hearing Solutions make balance testing and balance treatment solutions available to our community.
If you’re experiencing dizziness or vertigo or feeling unsteady on your feet, we have the training, expertise, and state-of-the-art technology to diagnose your condition and provide personalized solutions to address it.
How Does Your Balance Relate to Your Ears?
The focus of doctors of audiology is on any and all conditions related to the ears. Your ears play a major role in helping you maintain your balance.
Being steady on your feet involves the coordination of three of your body’s systems:
Your vision, which delivers visual cues about your surroundings and the path ahead
Your vestibular system, which involves the inner ear
Your proprioceptive system, which provides sensory input from your muscles and joints
When there is a disturbance, malfunction, or discoordination among these systems, you could experience dizziness, vertigo, and a loss of balance.
Your Vestibular System
The vestibular system, located in the inner ear, detects movement and changes to the positioning of your head. If you’re familiar with a carpenter’s level, you’ll understand how the process works.
When your vestibular system becomes damaged, you may begin to experience dizziness, vertigo, nausea, and imbalance.
Dizziness and balance challenges are not restricted to the elderly. They can affect people of any age due to disease, syndromes, toxins, or trauma as well as the same deterioration of the hair cells that leads to permanent sensorineural hearing loss.
Answers to Some Common Questions About Dizziness and Balance Disorders
What Are the Main Causes of Balance Disorders?
As mentioned earlier, balance disorders involve disruptions or discoordination between any of the three systems associated with balance: visual system, vestibular system, and proprioceptive system.
Causes related to the vestibular system include:
Treatment Options for Balance Disorders
Balance disorder treatments are specific to the underlying cause.
Disorders like labyrinthitis, vestibular neuritis, and perilymph fistulas are dealt with using antibiotics and anti-inflammatory medications.
The treatment for Meniere’s disease may include motion sickness and anti-nausea medications, diuretics to reduce fluids, and/or betahistine, designed to improve blood flow to the ear.
BPPV-related balance disorders are treated using a specific form of physical therapy called canalith repositioning. Each treatment takes only minutes and is successful in treating 95 percent of patients with no more than three to four treatments.
VRT, or vestibular rehabilitation therapy, is the most common form of balance therapy used to treat MdDS or motion sickness. This therapy involves a progressive program of exercises designed to decrease the symptoms of vertigo, dizziness, and visual issues to protect patients against falls related to imbalance.
Vestibular rehabilitation therapy is also used for all forms of dizziness, vertigo, and balance issues to help individuals cope with each episode.
Vestibular migraines are often treated using beta-blockers, calcium channel blockers, tricyclic antidepressants, serotonin or serotonin/norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs or SNRIs), and topiramate. In addition, changes to your diet, lifestyle, and activities may also help prevent or limit the number or intensity of vestibular migraine episodes.
What Should I Expect During a Balance Assessment?
Some people may avoid balance testing because they are unsure of what takes place. To help put your mind at ease, here is what you can expect during your balance assessment.
There are some actions you need to take in preparation for your balance test in order to get the most accurate result from testing, such as:
Avoid drinking alcohol during the 24 hours immediately before your balance test
Refrain from wearing mascara, eyeliner, or facial lotion when you come to the clinic
Try to arrive 15 minutes before your appointment time so you can relax and settle yourself before testing begins
Your balance assessment will include a series of advanced technology tests using state-of-the-art equipment. Your balance doctor might not use all of them, but here is a quick rundown of various tests available and a brief description of what they are and what they measure.
