Home > Blog > Physiotherapy > Inner Ear Trauma Physiotherapy
Your inner ear is vital to help you stand upright or walking balanced. Unfortunately, sometimes when the
head is injured in an accident or a fall, the inner ears are injured as
well, causing balance problems to arise.
Trauma—such as
—can damage the structures of your inner ear.
You see, our inner ear contains the “peripheral vestibular system, which plays a big role in keeping your balance, and it is this same inner ears that tell the brain how the body is moving in relation to gravity.
Our inner ears also communicate information about head motion, which is used to coordinate eye motion.
When the inner ears are injured, you may have:
Symptoms vary from person to person and usually depend on the type and extent of injury.
Because of the unpleasant symptoms, you might begin to hold back or cut back your level of activity, and you might even stop participating in your roles at home and at work.
The thing is, cutting back and restricting your activities because of these symptoms will actually slow your recovery from an inner ear injury instead.
First, we will perform tests to determine the causes of your symptoms and also to assess your risk of falling. Depending on the results of the tests, we may recommend further testing or consultation with your doctor.
Based on your our senior physiotherapist's evaluation and your goals for recovery, we will customize a physiotherapy treatment plan for you, which will depend on the cause of your symptoms.
Our main focus is to help you get moving again and manage the symptoms at the same time. Treatment may include specialized exercises to:
If you also have neck stiffness or neck pain, we will prescribe exercises and treatments such as manual therapy to help reduce the pain and stretch your muscles. In addition, we might prescribe exercises to improve your strength, your flexibility, and your heart health—with the goal of improving your overall physical health and well-being.
Inner ear trauma recovery takes patience and time, sometimes months; so it's very important that you get back to your normal activities as soon as possible.
Don't cut back or avoid any tasks or activities because of your fear, yes you can/may be more cautious but do not avoid activities - avoiding movements and activities that make you dizzy may only complicate your recovery from inner ear problems caused by trauma.
We will teach you strategies to help you cope with your symptoms