balance therapy services at virginia ent

Balance Therapy

Helping You Regain Your Balance & Your Confidence

Balance issues can make everyday functions difficult—even scary. Balance therapy, also called vestibular balance physical therapy, helps patients with balance issues regain stability. The goal of vestibular balance therapy is to retrain the way the inner ear and the brain work with the other senses so that patients can return to their daily lifestyle with strength and confidence. Through various exercises and techniques, physical therapists can help improve coordination, reduce dizziness, and restore normal movement patterns. Patients often experience significant improvements in both physical and mental well-being, allowing them to navigate their surroundings more safely and comfortably. Whether due to age, injury, or a medical condition, balance therapy can offer effective solutions for better quality of life.

Who Can Benefit From Balance Therapy?

Virginia Ear Nose and Throat’s Total Balance Center offers specialized physical therapy services to patients who struggle with balance. Our therapists are trained in evaluating and treating symptoms related to vestibular disorders and create customized treatment plans, including balance therapy, to fit patients’ specific needs. Patients who benefit from these services include:

  • Older people who have fallen

  • People with vertigo and inner ear disorders

  • People with visual deficits

  • People with musculoskeletal and neurological problems

Diagnosing Balance Problems

Before our physical therapists are able to effectively treat patients, patients will first perform a series of balance tests using the Smart Equitest Balance Master. The results help our team pinpoint the areas of instability to focus on improving over the course of your balance therapy. These tests assess factors such as coordination, postural control, and reaction time, providing valuable data to tailor a personalized therapy plan. By identifying specific problem areas, we ensure that each patient receives the most effective and targeted treatment for their balance issues. Testing includes:

Patients perform a series of motions to assess how well the patient’s vision, inner ears, feet and ankles work together to create balance.

Patients stand on the platform. As the platform moves backward, the therapist assesses how quickly and efficiently the patient regains balance.

The platform rotates around the patient’s ankles. This helps assess the patient’s stability on irregular surfaces.

Patients must move and sway around a target while keeping their feet on the ground, testing their ability to stay balanced.

Patients move from side to side, assessing the speed and efficiency of the patient when shifting their weight.

The patient squats slowly and stops at different positions. This tests the patient’s weight-bearing ability, mobility and range of motion.

This assessment tests the patient’s stability by instructing them to stand on the right leg and then the left while opening and closing the eyes.

Treating Balance Problems

Our therapists and ENT specialists work together to treat patients who experience problems with balance. In addition to medication and other therapies, patients with vestibular orders often benefit from gait therapy, which helps to retrain the way the body works together to stabilize it. Gait therapies include:

An overhead harness system that helps patients walk while preventing falls. By eliminating the fear of falling in patients, therapists can focus on guiding patients toward independence and safety with mobility and balance.

A form of body-weight supported rehabilitation for higher level patients who have advanced in therapy. This harness system is used over our treadmill to provide support as needed. The pneumatic harness system helps patients with injuries or pain to put weight on the affected site.

Weight shifting abilities and motor responses to surface changes.