Rehabilitation of Patients with Dizziness and Disequilibrium

Abstract

Medical doctors and physical therapists in rehabilitation medicine in Japan have paid little attention to the rehabilitation for dizzy patients or patients with disequilibrium. However, vestibular rehabilitation or physical training of patients with chronic vestibular disturbances has been investigated and considerable clinical experience in this field has accumulated in the United States and Europe since Cawthorne's report in 1946.
Fortunately, in 1990 "Standards of vestibular training" was published by the Japan Equilibrium Research Association, with the goal not only of improving the quality of life with bilateral labyrinthine destruction, but also of decreasing dizziness and disequilibrium provoked by head and body movements of dizzy patients. The published fundamental biological and medical studies on physical training, practical methods and description of exercises are reviewed in this paper. The author urges further studies of vestibular training and hopes that welfare services for dizzy patients will be greatly expanded.