The Dizziness Assessment

The body’s sense of balance comes from several systems communicating quickly and accurately (read more here => Vertigo and Dizziness Blog).

Dizziness is a symptom of miscommunication between these systems. So, our physiotherapists work through an assessment process to identify which systems are causing miscommunication.

We understand that dizziness can be a traumatic experience and often involves nausea. For this reason, we considerately order our assessment to begin with the simplest, least aggravating tests. We keep the rooms well ventilated and take things slow so any feelings of nausea can settle between tests.     

We begin with a long chat, trying to understand the full history of your dizziness and associated symptoms. Little bits of information can go a long way to helping us form a diagnosis. We ask questions such as:

• When did the dizziness first begin?

• What triggers the dizziness and how long does each episode last?

• Does anything ease the dizziness?

• How you describe your dizziness?

• Do you have any associated symptoms like headaches, jaw pain, neck pain, pins and needles or numbness?

The conversation usually points us to 2 or 3 possible causes that we assess further with physical tests.

The first physical tests simply involve watching how smoothly your eyes track an object and how well your neck moves in all directions. We then check your balance in standing, making sure you are safe.

Finally, we may do positional tests to check the functioning of your vestibular system. We complete these last because by this point you’ve become an expert in the topic and understand what is going on. These tests are the final piece to the puzzle and help confirm the diagnosis. If any of the positional tests bring on your dizziness, we immediately move into the treatment and hopefully resolve the worst of it.

We finish the session by giving you neck massage if stiffness is contributing, exercises to rehab your balance systems at home, and a bit more education for good measure.

If your dizziness is caused by something outside of our scope of practice, we refer you to specialists in the field.

Hopefully this has helped to ease any nervousness about the assessment process. If you have any questions, you are welcome to call our clinics for a chat.