Hi All,

Hey, when I had my ENG done, they said based on my results I would be a good candidate for therapy. So I was like "yippee" a cure! And when I was talking with the ENG people, I says not what rehab/therapy techniques would I be doing. I listed the Epley, Hallpike, Brandt-Darroff which I knew about, and they were amazed, yet they said no, no, therapy won't be anything like that. So................I went for session #1 of the therapy and talked and did different things there for an hour or so, and he indicated what would be the therapy for me would be the Brandt- Darroff's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And some Hall-Pike's!!!!!!! Is there something out there in the therapy world that you have done that I don't know yet. I don't have insurance and of course don't want to be forkin' out unnecessary $$ if you know what I mean. Now one of the tests in the rehab he had me try and do, I still cannot do. That was, line my feet up like I was walking on a tightrope, cross my arms over my chest, close my eyes and balance for 30 seconds. The most I can go is like 7 seconds!! I don't understand, hmmm.............. Ok, any feedback is appreciated.

Hi there. Make sure you are seeing a PT who does a lot of vestibular therapy. The hallpike and brant-darrof exercises are more for BPPV. Did your ENG indicate a vestibular loss on one side? The best candidates for rehab are those who get worse with movement,eyes closed/darkness, or things moving in front of them. The rehab exercises are for gaze stabilization, habituation, and balance. Just make sure the therapist knows this area inside and out. PTs don't learn much of this stuff in their regular education and it takes a lot of continuing ed and experience to get good at it.
Take care,
Joni

My therapist is having me do the Brandt-Daroff as well. 3x/day, 10 reps total. No Hallpike tho. My understanding has been that the Hallpike is a test to diagnose BPPV, not treat it. :confused:

She also just gave me the standing test you're describing. It sounds like they're progressing you too quickly tho which is counter-productive. The progression of that particular test goes something like this, from easiest to hardest:

Stand with feet together, hands across chest.
1. Eyes open
a) look straight ahead, count to 30.
b) look straight, move head up and down 10 times.
c) move head left and right 10 times.
2. Eyes closed
a) look straight ahead, count to 30.
b) look straight, move head up and down 10 times.
c) move head left and right 10 times.

Stand with feet in half tandem, hands across chest.
(Half tandem is where your feet are parallel to each other, one foot is slight behind the other one; your toe is basically about where the arch of the other foot is. Kinda hard to explain without pictures, lol.)
1. Eyes open
a) look straight ahead, count to 30.
b) look straight, move head up and down 10 times.
c) move head left and right 10 times.
2. Eyes closed
a) look straight ahead, count to 30.
b) look straight, move head up and down 10 times.
c) move head left and right 10 times.

Stand with feet in tandem, hands across chest.
(Tandem is what you were describing. Feet parallel, one foot directly behind the other.)
1. Eyes open
a) look straight ahead, count to 30.
b) look straight, move head up and down 10 times.
c) move head left and right 10 times.
2. Eyes closed
a) look straight ahead, count to 30.
b) look straight, move head up and down 10 times.
c) move head left and right 10 times.


The goal is to slowly reduce the amount of information available for your brain to work with in order to maintain your balance. The exercises will make you feel off-balance and you are supposed to learn to correct it.

When you move your head, do as much as you can. It should be challenging but you allow you to keep your balance. If any of the exercises make you lose your balance, you need to back up and do easier exercises or make the head movement more slowly.


So in short, do the ones that are challenging for you but don't knock you off balance.


There are lots of other exercises you can do and I think they're listed in one of the stickies.