The Level Headed Physio Blog

When we look at the causes for dizziness and vertigo, the vestibular system is a crucial focus of our assessment. Many of the causes for vertigo originate from the vestibular system, but what exactly is it? Let's take a look. The Vestibular Apparatus: One half of the inner ear and responsible for motion detection The Purpose of the Vestibular System The vestibular system is primarily responsible for the estimation of body position and motion. The input that comes to the vesti

A discussion around vertigo ultimately ends up with a discussion about crystals. Which will often then lead to the question of, what exactly are crystals? The first thing they are is normal. They belong in the ear. It's more about what happens when they don't quite stay put. What is a crystal? When talking about vertigo, the crystals referenced are not actually crystals at all. They are something called otoconia. These otoconia are essentially microscopic fragments of calcium

It might seem like something of an odd question, but in reality it's not. It's quite a common occurrence that anyone presenting with dizziness-like symptoms, particularly if they're severe or have led to a fall that they are diagnosed with vertigo. Problem is, you can't actually get vertigo. Not as a condition. Let me explain. You can, without a shadow of a doubt, experience vertigo. It can be debilitating, intense and downright suck. But the truth is, it's not a condition, i

Many people come to see me with dizziness and vertigo. Many times they aren't quite sure whether what they have is vertigo, or whether it's dizziness. Or whether it's neither. So the question in that first instance is, what's the difference? The best place to start is to talk about it in the same way I would discuss it with patients. And that's to look at dizziness as an umbrella term, a heading if you will, and that underneath that we have a multiude of different ways to des