Vestibular physiotherapy
Dizziness often has a treatable cause.
Vertigo, spinning, unsteadiness and motion sensitivity are treatable. A one-hour vestibular assessment finds out which system is causing it, and what to do about it.
You don't always have to wait it out.
The room stops spinning
The most common cause of vertigo responds to a specific repositioning technique. Medication can dull the symptoms, but it does not fix the cause.
Steady on your feet
Balance retraining for the unsteadiness that lingers after the spinning stops, and for the fear of falling that comes with it.
Back to normal life
Driving, screens, supermarket aisles, busy rooms. The situations people quietly start avoiding.
What vestibular physiotherapy is
Your balance runs on three systems. Dizziness means one is disagreeing.
Balance depends on your inner ear, your vision, and the position sense coming from your neck and legs. When those three agree, you do not think about it. When one sends a different signal from the other two, your brain reads the conflict as spinning, floating, or the ground moving.
The work is figuring out which system is out of step and why. Sometimes it is loose crystals in the inner ear, which can be repositioned. Sometimes an inner ear nerve has been damaged by a virus and the brain needs retraining to compensate. Sometimes it is coming from the neck, or from a concussion, or from an anxiety response that built up around the first episode. Those need different treatment, so the assessment matters more than the label.
What the hour looks like
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01The pattern
How long it lasts, what sets it off, what it feels like. The pattern narrows the cause more than any single test.
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02The testing
Eye movement, positional testing, neck and balance assessment. Some of it may briefly bring on your symptoms, which is how we confirm the source.
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03Treatment
If the cause is positional vertigo, the repositioning treatment happens in the same visit. Other causes start with a retraining program.
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04The plan
What to do at home, what to expect over the next week, and an honest estimate of how many visits this should take.
Bring someone to drive you if you can. Positional testing can leave you briefly unsteady, and it usually settles within the hour.
Who books this
Rolling over sets it off
Short, intense spinning triggered by turning in bed, looking up, or bending down. The most common cause of vertigo, and the most treatable.
It started suddenly and stayed
Days of severe dizziness after a virus, then weeks of feeling off balance. The inner ear settles but the brain needs help catching up.
Since the concussion or the accident
Dizziness, visual fatigue and unsteadiness after a head injury or a motor vehicle accident, often alongside neck pain.
Not all dizziness comes from the balance system. If it comes with sudden severe headache, double vision, slurred speech, numbness, weakness or fainting, that needs urgent medical assessment, not physiotherapy. Part of our job is recognising when to send you elsewhere.
No referral. Direct billed.
Vestibular assessment and treatment is physiotherapy, so it is covered by most extended health plans and by ICBC and WorkSafeBC claims. You do not need a doctor's referral to book, though some plans ask for one before they reimburse you.
$180Full hour · Direct billed to most extended health plans
Follow-up visits are $105. Positional vertigo often resolves in a small number of visits. Other causes take longer, and we will tell you which one you are looking at after the first assessment.
Before you book
- Will the assessment make me feel worse?
- Positional testing can bring on your symptoms for a short time, because provoking them is how we identify the source. It usually settles within the hour. Tell your physiotherapist if you are nervous about it and they will pace the testing accordingly.
- Should I stop taking my dizziness medication?
- Do not change any medication without speaking to the doctor who prescribed it. Some medications settle symptoms in the short term but can slow the brain's own adaptation, so it is worth raising with your doctor once you have a diagnosis.
- How many visits will this take?
- It depends entirely on the cause, which is why we will not guess before assessing you. Positional vertigo is often quick. Recovery after nerve damage or concussion takes a structured program over weeks. You will get an honest estimate after the first visit, not an open-ended package.
- Do I need a referral?
- No. Book online or call. We direct bill most extended health plans, and we handle ICBC and WorkSafeBC claims directly.
Colby Treliving
Registered Physiotherapist · Vestibular rehabilitation
Ask for a vestibular assessment with Colby.