What Is Vestibular Rehabilitation — And Could It Help Your Dizziness?

Dizziness is one of the most common and most misunderstood neurological symptoms there is. Millions of people live with chronic dizziness, spinning sensations, and balance problems — often told there is nothing that can be done, or handed a prescription that manages the symptom without ever addressing the cause.

Vestibular rehabilitation is a specialized form of physical therapy that treats the underlying source of dizziness and balance dysfunction — not just the feeling itself. At Salience NeuroRehab, it is one of our most in-demand services, and for good reason. For many patients, it is genuinely life-changing.

What is the vestibular system?

Your vestibular system is the sensory system housed in your inner ear that tells your brain where your head and body are in space. It works in constant communication with your eyes and your muscles to keep you balanced, oriented, and moving safely through the world.

When the vestibular system is damaged — by injury, illness, aging, or neurological conditions like stroke or multiple sclerosis — the signals it sends to the brain become distorted. The result can be dizziness, vertigo, a spinning sensation, nausea, unsteadiness, blurred vision, difficulty concentrating, and an increased risk of falling.

What conditions does vestibular rehabilitation treat?

Vestibular rehabilitation is effective for a wide range of conditions including:

Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV) — the most common cause of vertigo, caused by tiny calcium crystals that become displaced in the inner ear canals. Episodes are triggered by head movement and can be sudden and severe.

Vestibular neuritis and labyrinthitis — inflammation of the vestibular nerve or inner ear, often following a virus, that causes prolonged dizziness and balance disruption.

Post-stroke vestibular dysfunction — stroke frequently affects the areas of the brain that process vestibular information, resulting in dizziness and balance deficits that respond well to targeted rehabilitation.

Visual motion sensitivity — difficulty processing moving visual environments such as busy grocery stores, traffic, or scrolling screens.

Concussion-related dizziness — vestibular dysfunction is one of the most common and persistent symptoms following concussion and traumatic brain injury.

Multiple sclerosis — MS frequently affects the vestibular system and balance pathways, and vestibular rehabilitation is a core component of MS management.

What does treatment look like at Salience?

Our certified vestibular therapists use a specialized piece of diagnostic equipment called Frenzel goggles — a video-based system that records and magnifies the involuntary eye movements, called nystagmus, that occur during vestibular testing. This allows us to precisely identify the source and type of your vestibular dysfunction before treatment begins — not guess at it.

For patients with BPPV, we perform targeted canal repositioning maneuvers to move the displaced crystals back to where they belong. For many patients this produces dramatic relief within one to three sessions.

For patients with broader vestibular dysfunction, we use a progressive program of gaze stabilization exercises, balance retraining, and habituation therapy — gradually recalibrating the brain's response to movement and visual input.

We also use the Senaptec Sensory Station — an advanced sensorimotor evaluation and training system that measures and trains the visual, vestibular, and proprioceptive systems together. It is the same technology used by professional sports teams and elite military units, now applied to neurological rehabilitation.

You don't have to live with dizziness

If you have been told your dizziness is something you simply have to manage, we encourage you to reach out. Vestibular dysfunction is highly treatable when it is properly diagnosed and addressed with a targeted rehabilitation program. At Salience NeuroRehab we have helped patients who had been dizzy for months — and in some cases years — find lasting relief.

Call us at 812-998-6176 or request an appointment online to get started.

— Melanie Lindauer, Salience NeuroRehab