[peacheysncream]

I was sent to a 'neuro otology physiotherapist'.

She explained that if you have been knocked out, or received a severe hit to the head that you may badly damage your inner ear. What then happens is the body begins to over compensate the lack of balance by using your vision.
This explains constant unsteadiness, falling over, visual disturbances, headaches, the inability to read or watch tv for long periods etc....

So the solution is to retrain the brain.
How?

You put a large mark on a plain wall at sitting eye level and slowly turn your head left to right, keeping your eye on the mark all the time. You work up from 4 turns, 3x/day to 60 turns, 3x/day.
Then you do the same exercise but head up and down.

The other exercise is standing in the corner of a room with your back to the wall for support and close your eyes, let go of the wall until you fall and build up the time period you can do this.
Then the progress from that is the same exercise but with one foot in front of the other.

So far its not going well because I have not really moved my neck since July so it's v painful and makes me sick.

She said if this makes you feel sick for longer than 20 mins then cut down to 1 turn and build slowly.

Hope this helps someone!!

["Starr"]

The exercises you describe are pretty much the same as the ones my vestibular therapist has given me. Its unclear whether I have a vestibular problem though, because for most people doing the exercises does make them very dizzy or nauseous but I don't experience any of that.

My only symptoms that are "related" are my wide stance gait and my balance problems that result in repeated falls. Walking with a cane does help, partly from the support and partly because it slows me down a bit.

I have a few more exercises on my list that I do... that include feet at regular distance from each other and swaying the body left and right, also forward and back, just to the point of being off balance, catching yourself and then going the other way. Make sure you have something on either side of you to catch you in case you go too far. (I do it between the wall and the bed, especially for the backwards sway, so I just go on the bed if I go too far back)

I'd have to check my list for the others, in spite of doing them for over 2 months now, I still can't remember them without the list.

Starr

[claritan]

this is a great idea...

today i actually did these exercises in the morning, afternoon and night and just finished like 30 minutes ago

it seems to make my vertigo alittle worse for awhile but while im doing the exercises like the head turns and standing up straight with my eyes closed i can feel my body is off balance so in my opinion its worth doing them.


if i do these exercies for enough time will it literally help train my brain away from the vertigo you think?

["Starr"]

They will make your symptoms worse for a while, is the way it was explained to me by the vestibular therapist. You are exactly duplicating the movements that trigger the problems, but in a controlled way and only a little bit at a time to build tolerance.

You should not overdo them, it should be a gradual increase. If it stirs things up and it doesn't settle down in 20 minutes, you've over done it and need to back off the next time... do less reps, less often.

In the beginning it might mean you're only doing it for 15 - 20 seconds at a time, once a day and that's ok... ultimately you're building up to 5 times a day, 2 minutes per exercise is the goal, according to my work sheet.

I don't know if there are any youtube videos with vestibular exercises, but it might be worth a search if you are interested in this and feel you might benefit.

Starr