Abstract
The labyrinth, visual organs, peripheral organs of deep sensation and their center, the cerebellum, are needed to maintain the equilibrium of the body. Therefore, any disorder that occurs in any part of any such organs gives rise to dysequilibrium with consequent vertigo. Curiously enough, while a vast majority of patients with vertigo have a disorder of the vestibular system, very few exhibit a derangement of the visual organs or of deep sensibility. This communication deals with a patient's experiences with an episode of vertigo of putative deep sensation origin. The patient in this case was a 49-year-old male pharmacist. Since his early childhood he had various deformities of the legs necessitating the use of a cane. His condition was diagnosed by an orthopedic surgeon to be characterized by (1) flexion adduction contracture of the hip joints,(2) compensatory genu valgum and (3) severe pes planovalgus. In 1984 he underwent an adductor tenotomy. When he stood at bedside for the first time after 2 weeks' bed rest following surgery, he had the following unusual feelings:(1) as if the floor on which his feet were touching were sloping left and right and he were standing astride a roof apex;(2) as if he were about to slip down right or leftward;(3) as if his thights and legs were wide open;(4) feeling dizzy soon after standing on his feet and then as if his body were being carried away on a vehicle;(5) his mood was akin to that of motion sickness. These bizarre feelings were progressively reduced as he practiced at standing and walking and were gone in a month. This vertigo is considered to have its origin in an altered deep sensation caused by anatomico-physiological changes that have occurred as a result of the operation. These include medial displacement of the area of contact with the earth in the sole; altered tonicity of the adductors and their antagonists of the thigh; and a change of the position of the knee joint.
