Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo Case Study

Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV) is the most common form of vertigo. It is triggered by the head and neck being in certain positions, and presents with dizziness, spinning, loss of balance, and nausea. This type of vertigo is usually in older ages as well. The underlying pathology of this condition is that crystals form in the inner ear, which in turn cause the vertigo to occur in the aggravating positions. My patient is a sixty-year-old male who presents with vertigo that lasts 20-30 seconds when he rotates his neck to the left, extends, sits from side-lying, and standing up from a seated position. His kinesthetic awareness and static and dynamic balance are impaired. The overall goals of physical therapy treatment are to decrease his vertigo, increase static and dynamic balance, and return to work. For interventions, I have chosen three areas that I believe will benefit this patient and work to achieve short and long-term goals. I am going to be performing a maneuver, neuro re-education, and Brandt Daroff exercises with this patient over the course of our therapy. All of these will be progressed to challenge him and achieve maximum function for his occupation and daily life. Before beginning our Physical Therapy regimen, safety is of the essence. I want to educate him on all components of safety while at home, driving, and …show more content…
[22] The present study demonstrates a decrease in vertiginous symptoms among the control group with time, although the controls did not demonstrate a corresponding resolution of the Dix-Hallpike test. It is therefore theorized that the resolution of vertigo in untreated patients is the result of avoidance of vertigo-producing head positions. In other words, these patients still have BPPV but have reduced their freedom of movement to remain asymptomatic (Liu, Wang, Zhang, and