Vestibular exercises to help improve your balance
When your inner ear just isn’t working well
Vestibular exercises include activities that challenge your inner ear to help you with your balance. There are exercises including
Challenging the vestibulo-ocular reflex(VOR)
Habituation exercises
Eye movements
Head movements
Tandem standing
Standing on varied surfaces
Please be aware that if you are experiencing dizziness, these exercises are meant to challenge that in a way to help eventually reduce your symptoms. This means that your dizziness may get worse when you practice this in order to improve the function of your vestibular system over time with graded exposure. I invite you to always think of safety first and have someone nearby to help you. This is also not meant to be a substitute for medical care and not to be used as diagnostic tools or as rehab. Please seek professional care to design a program specifically tailored to your needs. What I present here today are merely exercise strategies to challenge your vestibular system.
VOR-This is a reflex that keeps the eyes steady while the head moves. You can do this sitting, standing, or even lying down. Holding a target arm’s distance away at eye level, focus on the target as you turn your head to the left and right. Also practice vertical head nods. Keep your eyes focused on the stationary target. Practice at varied speeds, but the goal is to keep the target in focus.
Habituation-this means that you are completing activities that tend to cause your symptoms with the idea that repeated exposure over time will reduce the intensity of your symptoms. Some activities include large motion head rotation side to side and up and down; looking up, down, right and left just moving the eyes with as much movement into each direction as you can; leaning over and coming back upright; and turning 180 degrees in clockwise and counter-clockwise directions when sitting or standing.
Eye movements-practice tracking a moving target at arm’s length. Move the target up, down, on the diagonal, and crossing center. Keep the target in focus and keep the head still as the eyes move to track the target.
Head movements-practice with two targets placed about one foot from midline at arm’s length and at eye level. Turn your head along with your eyes looking from one target to the other.
Tandem standing-placing one foot in front of the other, practice balancing here with your eyes open and with your eyes closed
Standing on varied surfaces-practice standing without your shoes on different types of surfaces like hardwood, carpet, grass, firm sofa cushion placed on the floor, or a pillow. Practice balancing with your eyes open and closed. You can also practice this in sitting while sitting on varied surfaces to challenge your balance.
Feel free to practice these even if you don’t have a history of vestibular dysfunction, and if you do have a history or are experiencing vestibular dysfunction, please check with your medical provider to determine if any of these are appropriate for you.
Take good care,
Sharon