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Why do we do this exercises?


Answer:
Habituation exercise is not suited for dizziness symptoms that are spontaneous in nature and do not worsen because of head motion or visual stimuli. The goal of habituation exercise is to reduce the dizziness through repeated exposure to specific movements or visual stimuli that provoke patients’ dizziness. These exercises are designed to mildly, or at the most moderately, provoke the patients’ symptoms of dizziness. The increase in symptoms should only be temporary, and before continuing onto other exercises or tasks the symptoms should return completely to the baseline level. Over time and with good compliance and perseverance, the intensity of the patient’s dizziness will decrease as the brain learns to ignore the abnormal signals it is receiving from the inner ear.

Gaze Stabilization exercises are used to improve control of eye movements so vision can be clear during head movement. These exercises are appropriate for patients who report problems seeing clearly because their visual world appears to bounce or jump around, such as when reading or when trying to identify objects in the environment, especially when moving about.

There are two types of eye and head exercises used to promote gaze stability. The choice of which exercise(s) to use depends on the type of vestibular disorder and extent of the disorder. One type of gaze stability exercise incorporates fixating on an object while patients repeatedly move their heads back and forth or up and down for up to a couple of minutes. The following pictures demonstrate examples of this type of gaze stability exercise.


Dizziness, including vertigo, can happen at any age, but it is common in people aged 65 years or over.

Vertigo can be temporary or long-term. It can occur during pregnancy or as a symptom of an ear infection. People with an inner ear disorder, such as Ménière’s disease, sometimes also experience vertigo.

Vertigo is a symptom, but it can lead to or occur alongside other symptoms, too.

These may include:

balance problems
lightheadedness
a sense of motion sickness
nausea and vomiting
ringing in the ear, called tinnitus
a feeling of fullness in the ear
headaches
nystagmus, in which the eyes move uncontrollably, usually from side to side
Causes

Various conditions can lead to vertigo, which usually involves either an imbalance in the inner ear or a problem with the central nervous system (CNS).

Conditions that can lead to vertigo include the following.

Labyrinthitis

This disorder can happen when an infection causes inflammation of the inner ear labyrinth. Within this area is the vestibulocochlear nerve.

This nerve sends information to the brain about head motion, position, and sound.

Apart from dizziness with vertigo, a person with labyrinthitis may experience hearing loss, tinnitus, headaches, ear pain, and vision changes.

Learn more about labyrinthitis.

Vestibular neuritis

An infection causes vestibular neuritis, which is inflammation of the vestibular nerve. It is similar to labyrinthitis, but it does not affect a person’s hearing. Vestibular neuritis causes vertigo that may accompany blurred vision, severe nausea, or a feeling of being off balance.

Cholesteatoma

This noncancerous skin growth develops in the middle ear, usually due to repeated infection. As it grows behind the eardrum, it can damage the middle ear’s bony structures, leading to hearing loss and dizziness.

Ménière’s disease

This disease causes a buildup of fluid in the inner ear, which can lead to attacks of vertigo with ringing in the ears and hearing loss. It tends to be more common in people between the ages of 40 and 60 years.

The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders estimate that 615,000 people in the United States currently have a diagnosis of Ménière’s disease, with doctors diagnosing about 45,500 new cases each year.

The exact cause is unclear, but it may stem from blood vessel constriction, a viral infection, or an autoimmune reaction. There may also be a genetic component that means that it runs in some families.

Find out more about Ménière’s disease.

Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV)

The inner ear contains structures called the otolith organs, which contain fluid and particles of crystals of calcium carbonate.

In BPPV, these crystals become dislodged and fall into the semicircular canals. There, each fallen crystal touches sensory hair cells within the cupula of the semicircular canals during movement.

As a result, the brain receives inaccurate information about a person’s position, and spinning dizziness occurs. People typically experience periods of vertigo that last less than 60 seconds, but nausea and other symptoms may also occur.