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Saint John's Introduces Regional Balance Center

Saint John's Regional Balance Center has assembled the specially trained staff and advanced equipment to offer highly technical advanced diagnostic and treatment services to patients with symptoms of dizziness, unsteadiness (vertigo), or loss of balance.

Because of the complexity of balance control, not all balance problems are the same.

"In a normal healthy individual, the senses of touch, position, vision and inner ear motion sensors work together with the brain," explained Brock Haut, a physical therapist with extensive training in balance rehabilitation. "If you have a balance disorder, however, you may have a problem in any one or combination of these systems."

To determine what's causing a balance issue, Saint John's Regional Balance Center uses several state-of-the-art testing modalities conducted by professionals who are specially trained in the evaluation and treatment of balance disorders.

A new machine called the NeuroCom Smart EquiTest measures visual, vestibular and physical reactions to a series of tests. The size of an open phone booth, the EquiTest features a platform that contains computer chips. Wearing a harness like that of a skydiver, patients stand on the platform. They are asked to try their best to maintain their balance while covering an eye, watching the colorfully painted walls move, and other variables. The harness keeps them completely safe. The unit also is used throughout physical therapy training.

Videonystagmography (VNG) is usually ordered at the same time. The VNG camera records eye jerks. There are neural connections that stretch from the balance mechanism in the inner ear to the muscles of the eye. A disorder of the balance mechanism results in small eye jerks that can only be detected by a sophisticated computer. A camera attached to a pair of goggles records these eye jerks during a series of tasks. The balance mechanism is monitored during tasks that consist of looking back and forth between designated points, following moving lights, lying in different positions, shaking your head, and lying down and sitting up quickly.

All services are provided within the Erskine Rehabilitation Center, conveniently located close to parking at the south end of Saint John's Ambulatory Services Center, 2020 Meridian St., Suite 170.

It is estimated that as many as 40 percent of adults have problems with dizziness or imbalance that are severe enough to report to a physician. When balance problems develop, they can cause profound disruptions in your life. In addition to increasing risk of falls, balance disorders can shorten your attention span, disrupt normal sleep patterns and cause excessive fatigue.

"Problems with dizziness or lack of balance are often dismissed as being unimportant, or as simply an unavoidable part of growing older," Haut said. "As a result, thousands of people suffer through these problems needlessly, finding it difficult to work, run errands, use a car, walk safely, or perform routine daily activities. Balance disorders can be treated with the correct evaluation by specially trained audiologists and physical therapists."

Most patients can be helped with vestibular or balance restorative therapy programs provided by our physical therapists, who custom-design specific rehab exercises and activities to each patient's goals for improvement.

For more information or a referral, call 646-8170.

(Oct. 7, 2006)