BPPV HOME EXERCISE DVDs

Timothy C. Hain, MD Janet O. Helminski, Ph.D, P.T.

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In our clinical dizziness practice we often give this DVD to our patients to show them how to perform home treatments for several kinds of BPPV. It is intended for use under the supervision of a health care professional familiar with BPPV. There is both an English and Spanish version.

It separately illustrates the following home treatment maneuvers in 10 minutes segments:

1. Right Home canalith repositioning procedure (home Epley for left sided posterior canal BPPV or right anterior canal BPPV)
2. Left Home canalith repositioning procedure (home Epley for right-sided posterior canal BPPV or left anterior canal BPPV)
3. Right logroll procedure for left lateral canal BPPV
4. Left logroll procedure for right lateral canal BPPV
5. Brandt-Daroff Exercises.

The first and second exercises (home Epley maneuver) are the most generally useful, because they treat the type of BPPV that is most common. The logroll exercises, for lateral canal BPPV, are for a less common condition, and for this reason they are less useful.

When we provide this DVD to patients in the clinic, we evaluate their eye movements and determine which canal is affected by BPPV. After this is done, we ask the patient to perform one of the 5 exercises above. Lateral canal BPPV can be difficult to localize to one ear or the other, and for this situation, we often tell patients to start on the most highly suspect side (i.e. the side with previous PC BPPV or hearing disturbance), do the exercises for a week, and if no better switch to the other side.

With respect to timing, most commonly we ask them to perform the selected exercise at night, using 3 repetitions. This takes about 10 minutes. We suggest doing the exercises at night because if one becomes dizzy or nauseated by the exercise, this is a better time for it to happen than, for example, just before going into work.

It is very helpful to have a competant health professional available to supervise these exercises, because this makes it far more likely that one chooses the right exercise, and also provides one with someone to determine if there has been a "canal conversion", requiring a switch in exercise (usually from Epley to the same side log roll).

The health professionals most likely to be able to perform this function are otologists (ear doctors), otoneurologists (neurologists that specialize in dizziness), audiologists, and vestibular physical therapists. In the United States, the vestibular disorders association (VEDA), will provide you with a list of health professionals who have volunteered that they know how to do this.

Click Here to purchase English Version. Click Here to purchase Spanish Version.