Vertigo treatment provides insights for living during the pandemic

Two weeks ago, I woke up as usual, ready to start the day but after a few steps felt unbalanced, unsteady and wondered if I may have stepped out of bed too quickly. When I attempted to take the stairs a few hours later, noticed that the stairs were “moving” and realized that this swaying feeling was not going to pass and felt a little weird. After following up with my doctor, I was diagnosed with vertigo with a recommendation to follow up for physical therapy for immediate relief and/or possibly try an over-the-counter medication with meclizine (e.g. Dramamine).

Vertigo, or Benign Positional Vertigo (BPV), happens when small crystals that “are normally in another area of the ear break free and enter the semicircular canals or when these crystals form inside the semicircular canals This causes your brain to receive confusing messages about your body’s position”.

The physical therapy exercises and maneuvers, which I continue to do, allowed me to reflect on how obtaining relief from vertigo may also be applied to navigating the pandemic which, similar to the vertigo, can occur again without warning, even after successful treatment!

Epley Maneuver: I was advised that the most effective treatment for BPV involves “tilting your head in order to move the piece of calcium carbonate to a different part of your inner ear”. To stay healthy and safe during the pandemic, we have had to adjust our schedules, pivot from our usual way of doing things, and slow down or reconsider how we define many basic activities that we have taken for granted, done automatically or even mindlessly.

Gaze stabilization: This exercise involves keeping your eyes fixed on a single stationary target in your hand or placed on a wall 2 feet away, and tilting your head up and down, side to side. During the pandemic, while staying in lockdown or being restricted, we have had to keep our distance and also be mindful of everybody and everything around us.

Standing Static Feet - Partial Heel-Toe, Feet Together or Single Leg Raised: Standing with your right or left foot partially in front of the other, or feet together, or a single leg raised and closing your eyes for 30-seconds with arms at your sides. Similar to the pandemic, this requires staying focused and upright, putting one foot in front of the other, feet together, or even balancing many responsibilities with your eyes wide open or still moving forward without seeing what comes next. In any of these positions (with your eyes open or eyes closed) you must visualize being upright and focused or else risk losing your balance, feeling disoriented or,at worst, falling.

Hip/Knee Functional Quadriceps / Chair Squat: Keeping feet flat on the floor and shoulder width apart, squatting as low as is comfortable and returning to the original position quickly ten times. During the past year, we have had to get lower than is comfortable, and still not get too comfortable in this lowly position because we want to return back to our new normal while maintaining your equilibrium/balance.

BPV may be uncomfortable, manageable and seems to improve with time. Similar to the pandemic……