Vertigo is a very common sickness faced by people today. It causes dizziness, head-spinning sensations, loss of balance among other symptoms.
Vertigo affects one’s posture & balance while carrying out basic tasks & going through the day.
For most people, the discomforts arising out of vertigo often cause a lack of focus & concentration while doing everyday chores, in addition to bouts of nausea, persistent ear pain & weakness.
A specific type of vertigo, Cervical Vertigo, is especially associated with dizziness from sudden neck movement, like turning your head, moving your neck & shoulders in different directions, etc.
The muscles & the joints in your neck pack receptors that send signals about head movement & orientation to the brain & vestibular apparatus, including parts of the inner ear that are responsible for maintaining the body’s balance.
This system also helps maintain balance & muscle coordination in the entire body.
When this system works improperly, receptors fail to communicate the signals to the brain & in turn, lead to dizziness & other sensory dysfunctions in the body.
If you’re experiencing any of these below-mentioned symptoms, you need to see a doctor immediately & go for vertigo diagnosis.
- Persistent headache
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Ear pain or ringing
- Neck pain
- Loss of balance
- Weakness
- Problems in concentration
The dizziness brought on by cervical vertigo can last a few minutes to a few hours, depending on the severity of your condition.
Along with the decrease in neck pain, the dizziness may also begin to subside.
For some people suffering from vertigo, symptoms may worsen after exercising, performing any rapid movements &/or sneezing sometimes.
For people suffering from vertigo, there are effective vertigo treatments in place.
The first procedure that your doctor at a vertigo diagnosis center will suggest to you for vertigo is a computerized stabilometry test.
A computerized stabilometry test is basically used to evaluate postural control among vertigo patients.
Computerized stabilometry can be defined as an objective & functional evaluation of the postural control system in its steady-state behavior.
The test can also be used as a very good evaluation tool to measure the outcome of vestibular rehabilitation.
Vertigo diagnosis centers administer the test to vertigo patients in phases. Computerized Stabilometry Tests consists of three tests:
- Stability Evaluation Test (mCTSIB): The mCTSIB part of the computerized stabilometry test evaluates a patient’s functional balance control. It is performed through 4 different testing conditions that each assesses the patient’s postural sway velocity. Results are shown in a graphical format, with COG traces shown along with each condition tested.
- Limits of Stability (LOS): The LOS test essentially puts a number to the maximum distance the patient can intentionally displace their COG in different directions while maintaining stability in each position they take. The parameters that the test measures are reaction time, COG movement velocity, directional control, endpoint excursion & maximum excursion.
- Rhythmic Weight Shift (RWS): The RWS part of the computerized stabilometry test measures & quantifies the patient’s ability to rhythmically move their COG from left to right & forward to backward between two targets at different speeds.
The test measures two parameters; on-axis COG velocity & directional control.
Computerized stabilometry test is a very effective test run by vertigo diagnosis centers & is used on a large scale by doctors for vertigo treatment.
