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Nystagmus What Does It Mean?

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.

Nystagmus how to pronounce?

nuh-stag-muhs

Nystagmus what does it look like?

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...

So why did we do this?

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...