Neurol. praxi. 2023;24(4):294-298 | DOI: 10.36290/neu.2023.053

Balance disorders in patients with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo

doc. PhDr. Ondřej Čakrt, Ph.D.¹, doc. MUDr. Jaroslav Jeřábek, CSc.²

¹ Klinika rehabilitace a tělovýchovného lékařství 2. LF UK a FN Motol, Praha

² Neurologická klinika 2. LF UK a FN Motol, Praha

Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) is a peripheral vestibular disorder in which otoconia are released from the utricular macula into the semicircular canals. BPPV is the most common disorder of the inner ear in adult and is the cause of vertigo in up to one-fifth of patients presenting to a physician. In patients where there is no history of previous inner ear disease, we refer to BPPV as idiopathic. Often, however, BPPV arises on the terrain of previous labyrinthine disease; we refer to this variant as secondary. Patients most commonly complain of episodes of brief rotational vertigo that occur after a change in head position, typically when bending, lying down or turning over in bed. However, some studies in recent years have shown that patients with BPPV suffer from impairments in standing and walking stability that are also present in between epizodes of vertigo. These disorders are detectable by instrumentation and clinical tests. Importantly, however, successful treatment of BPPV with canalith repositioning procedures also leads to improvement of postural instability.

Keywords: vertigo, stance, gait, postural stability, canalith repositioning procedure.

Received: August 2, 2023; Revised: August 2, 2023; Accepted: August 14, 2023; Prepublished online: August 14, 2023; Published: September 8, 2023  Show citation