Benign positional vertigo: causes and treatment

Benign positional vertigo – a condition characterized by sudden onset of short-term

Causes of dizziness

The most common cause of vertigo is vertebrobasilar insufficiency, which eventually causes positional vertigo, occurs when a sharp change of positions. The cause may be osteoarthritis developing in the cervical spine. Rarely she is wrong and the bending of the arteries running through the vertebrae. Such changes are considered to be the main basis for the diagnosis of "vertebrobasilar insufficiency".

Just cause of positional vertigo that is not accompanied by other dysfunctions of the nervous system, may be the defeat of the vestibular apparatus.

It is this dizziness is the most common in medical practice, although often it just can not be the diagnosis. In order for benign positional vertigo began to appear regularly, and requires special conditions. According to research on the dome of the semicircular canal of patients suffering from regular dizziness when changing position, was delayed basophilic substance. Doctors believe that the deposition occurs from the degenerating of the elliptic membrane of the bag. As a result, when the abrupt change of the provisions the dome is set in motion that leads to such unpleasant consequences.

The occurrence of benign dizziness may be associated with the specific structure of the vestibular apparatus located in the inner ear canals. The channels themselves have expanding ends called ampullae. Here are the ducts that help to maintain balance and responsible for the normal operation of the entire apparatus.

Deep inside the ear are situated the receptors connected with a specific crystals – otoliths. It is the otoliths are responsible for the occurrence of vertigo, which is intended to show that the orientation in space is violated. If external factors led to the rejection of the otoliths from the walls of the inner ear, they will regularly irritate the receptors, and cause positional vertigo. In such cases, can only help surgery. Fortunately, the vertigo associated with the rejection of the otoliths, appear very rarely.

Specificity of benign positional vertigo

Due to the fact that patients often confuse the concepts of "

The clinical picture

Positional vertigo is seen when changing the position of the head: for example, when cornering. As the disease usually affects only one hemisphere (or one ear),

Diagnosis of the disease

At the moment there is only onereliable and easy way to make a correct diagnosis: to test positional vertigo. This method is that the physician should observe the patient and carefully monitor his condition. The patient sits on the couch with your head turned 45 degrees (u-turn should be on the side with suspicion of the disease). Then abruptly falls back, keeping the head turning, but just throwing it back. If the patient is really sick of these type of dizziness, with this change of regulations is required to immediately occur short-term attack. This will help to identify the presence or absence of the disease. As the doctor is obliged to send the patient for an MRI or an x-ray of the cervical spine to exclude the possibility of incorrect diagnosis.

Methods of treatment of benign positional vertigo

As a rule, in order to cure this disease, the doctor prescribes therapy and medication. First and foremost, the patient should undergo strengthening exercises that will help to train the vestibular apparatus. In that case, if exercises do not help, but the medication has no effect, can be assigned to the operation, during which the normal location of the otoliths will be restored. However, surgery is resorted to only in extreme cases. The course of recovery after surgery will take 1 to 3 months.

However, in order to

Prevention of the disease

Since the exact causes of this disease is not established, prevention can only be in common measures. Should have more time to devote to physical exercise, to monitor your vestibular apparatus doing exercises to strengthen it. It is recommended to leave bad habits and spend more time in the fresh air.

People age is not recommended to abruptly get out of bed, because after 50 years the risk of rejection of the otoliths increase significantly. The day should start with a light jiggle of the head and slow ascent that will allow the vestibular system to "Wake up" and support your body in balance.