Easy, Inexpensive, and Effective: Vestibular Exercises for Balance Control

The common symptoms of vertigo, dizziness, and dis-equilibrium occur in 5 % to 10 % of all patients seen by general practitioners and in 10 % to 20 % of all patients seen by neurologists and otolaryngologists. Incidence in-creases with patient age, and the symptoms occur most frequently in persons older than 75 years of age (1). Diz-ziness and vertigo are not disease entities but, rather, are the outcome of many physiologic and pathologic processes (2). Consequently, dizziness and vertigo have many causes, including vestibular rotational vertigo syndromes with nau-sea and vomiting, visual vertigo, presyncope light-headed-ness and hypoglycemic dizziness, drug intoxication, pho-bias, panic attacks, physiologic motion sickness, and height vertigo (2). Although the prophylaxis and treatment of diz-ziness and vertigo differ depending on the cause, physical therapy for balance control is common to all