Specific Organ Targeted Vestibular Physiotherapy: The Pivot in the Contemporary Management of Vertigo and Imbalance

Advancements in our understanding of vestibular physiology and how it is changes in different diseases have established that of the three therapeutic approaches to treat disorders of the vestibular system viz. pharmacotherapy, surgery and physical therapy, it is the later i.e., physical therapy which is the most efficacious modality in the management of balance disorders. The futility of vestibular sedatives in the correction of vestibular disorders and in the restoration of balance and the very limited role of surgery has now been recognised. Advancements in vestibulometry now enable us to localise any lesion in the vestibular system with utmost precision and also determine the exact cause of the balance disorder. The site of lesion and the specific organ that is defective can now be very precisely identified. Treatment modalities especially that for physical therapy hence have to be organ specific, and if possible, also disease specific.

The study aims at evaluating the efficacy of physiotherapy in the management of balance disorders and also assesses the efficacy of organ targeted physical therapy, a new concept in restoring balance after vestibulometry has identified the offending organ.

The study was conducted in the specialised physical therapy unit for balance and gait disorder patients which is a part of Vertigo and Deafness Clinic in Kolkata, India. Special instruments for physical therapy devised by the first author were used for stimulation of specific sense organs in the vestibular labyrinth that were found to be defective in vestibulometry. Specially made Virtual reality programs were used in patients suffering from psychogenic balance disorders. The pre and post therapy status was evaluated by different standard scales to assess balance and dizziness.

Very promising results were obtained. Organ targeted physiotherapy where defective sense organs were specifically stimulated showed remarkable improvement in different measures. Virtual reality exercises too showed very promising results in patients of psychogenic vertigo.