Vestibular Rehabilitation in Primary Care

Chronic dizziness is frustrating for both physicians and patients. Vestibular rehabilitation (a method of treating dizziness) involves head, eye, and body movements that stimulate the vestibular system; such stimulation promotes central nervous system compensation for abnormal peripheral input.

Researchers compared a single session of vestibular rehabilitation, delivered by primary care nurses (trained during a half-day session), to usual care in a randomized trial of 170 British patients. All patients had experienced at least 2 months of movement-provoked dizziness and had no identifiable nonlabyrinthine cause of dizziness; the most common diagnoses were dizziness or vertigo of unknown cause, Ménière disease, labyrinthitis, and benign posit…