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As health care providers we like to say that we provide evidence based treatment, but what is the evidence for the vestibular therapy we provide? Specifically, how about the treatment we provide for vestibular hypofunction?

With being a busy clinician it can be a bit daunting trying to keep up with the latest research. We also have to realize that for every good piece of research there is research that is, well, not so good. So, how do we filter out the clinically relevant and strong evidence based research?

Fortunately, from time to time clinical practice guidelines come out and provide direction. Over the past few years there have been clinical practice guidelines developed for...

Do you ever wonder what would happen if one of your patients had a vertebral artery dissection?

Do you ever wonder if you would be able to screen if your patient has a vertebral artery dissection?

We recently had a patient come through our clinic with a vertebral artery dissection and his history was alarming. Before we review this case let’s review some of the common questions about this condition:

• What is vertebral artery dissection?
• What causes vertebral artery dissection?
• How common is vertebral artery dissection?
• What are the symptoms of a vertebral artery dissection?
• How is vertebral artery dissection diagnosed?
• What is the treatment for vertebral artery dissection?

What is...

A few months ago we reviewed how gait speed is not only a great test to measure mobility, but why it should also be considered a vital sign (link). But have you ever wondered about assessing your patient’s ability to walk backwards? This is a more complex task needed for tasks such as backing up to a chair, opening a door, or avoiding a sudden obstacle. Or,  have you ever wondered if there was a standardized testing protocol for backwards walking with normative data? 

The study by Carter in 2017, called “The 3m Backwards Walk & Retrospective Falls: Diagnostic Accuracy of a Novel Clinical Measure” looked at walking backwards and falls. The study reviews:

1. ...

The other day we had a patient whose history seemed like pretty straight forward BPPV. On examination, I anticipated there being nystagmus and the patient tightening their grip on my arm with Dix-Hallpike testing, but to my surprise Dix-Hallpike testing was negative when tested to the right and left. This was a bit anticlimactic and somewhat disappointing.

Have you ever been in this situation? Testing tells you one thing, but your gut says otherwise, so now what do you do? If you are not sure what to do next or are curious what we do at North 49, then this post is for you. In this post we will cover 7 things we consider to help us rule in/out BPPV when the initial testing is negative....