North 49 is a physical therapy clinic, but it is interesting as over half of the patients we see have dizziness. We see more patients each month with dizziness than back pain, neck pain, shoulder pain, knee pain or any pain for that matter combined. It is also interesting to note that our patient population is similar to what the literature finds in that with dizziness the most common cause is due to BPPV.
So what is BPPV? Let’s review some of the basics.
BPPV is short for Benign (non life threatening), Paroxysmal (sudden, uncontrollable), Positional, Vertigo (sense of spinning).
To understand what BPPV is we...
At North 49 our team of vestibular therapists look for nystagmus in determining one’s cause of dizziness. So, what is nystagmus? It is simply repetitive, uncontrolled eye motion. It usually affects both eyes. Depending on the cause it may be constant or intermittent. It can also be temporary or permanent.
nuh-stag-muhs
It will look like a stuttering motion of the eyes. This motion can be linear (upward, downward, or laterally), rotary, or a combination. Sometimes it can be seen in room light while other times it cannot. Health care providers therefore use infrared goggles to make...
As therapists, all of us at the North 49 Balance & Dizziness Centre have been on a journey. Over the years we have seen individuals who reported being dizzy, but were not quite sure how to deal with it. To be honest some of us oldies were actually told in physical therapy school not to treat dizziness along with the other "5D's" which consisted of dizziness, dysarthria, dysphagia, double vision, and drop attacks. Interesting now, as over half of of our caseload at North 49 consists of people who are having their quality of life affected by vertigo and other forms of dizziness.
With the lack of training early in our careers and the frequency of seeing...
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