Do You Have Problems With Balance and Dizziness”
Ohio Valley General Hospital’s Fall and Prevention Department Can Help

By Laurie Bailey

Dizziness can range in severity from lightheadedness to vertigo, or that feeling that your surroundings are moving. It affects about 30% of American over 65 while over 35% of adults over 40 have inner ear disorders (vestibular dysfunction), according to the Vestibular Disorder Association.
Thanks to the new Balance and Fall Prevention Department, part of the Rehabilitation Department of Pittsburgh’s Ohio Valley General Hospital, patients are receiving the most effective means for diagnosing problems with balance and dizziness.
Up and running in full force since May, the new department boasts a new NeuroCom Balance Manager machine that allows thorough evaluation of a patient’s balance issues.
Before being evaluated with the use of the NeuroCom equipment, the patient is assessed for basic range of motion, strength and coordination by one of the Rehab Department’s nine physical therapists.
The machine can check vestibular (equilibrium in the inner ear) somato sensory (how the muscles provide information to the brain) and visual (how you use vision to help with balance) systems.
Here’s how it works. The NeuroCom machine is a computerized “booth” with a footplate, much like that of a Wii gaming system, in which the patient stands, explained Colleen Hamm, director of Ohio Valley’s Balance and Fall Prevention Department. The walls of the booth are colorful and patterned.
Tests are usually performed first with the patient’s eyes open, then closed. The footplate and surrounding walls may be still or moving.
“These tests can pinpoint where balance problems are coming from,” said Hamm.
For example, the NeuroCom can monitor a patient’s response to the surface on which he is standing, whether it be a hill or flat. This provides information about the body’s position and a patient’s comfort zone for maintaining balance. It measures how far someone can reach before becoming unbalanced.
“This process can rule out inner ear or neurological disorders,” said Hamm. For example, the patient may have a neurological issue if he shows slow reaction times to the moving floor and surround.
A person may require a NeuroCom evaluation if they experience frequent falls, typically seen in older patients, or dizziness, which can occur at any age. To be considered for an evaluation ask your family physician, neurologist or ear nose and throat specialist.
For some diagnoses, patients may continue to improve their balance issues with further treatment in the Rehab Department.
“They can do strengthening and stretching exercises for muscle groups that aren’t strong, mat exercises for hips and core stabilizing exercises like Pilates,” said Hamm. There are also functional exercises like walking with head turns, if the problems are vestibular.
For more information, contact Pittsburgh’s Ohio Valley General Hospital at (412) 777-6231.

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