Find Greater Stability and Confidence With Dizziness and Vertigo Care
Dizziness and vertigo can make everyday activities feel uncertain. You may feel lightheaded, unsteady, disoriented, or as though you or the room is spinning. At Ability Physiotherapy & Wellness, care for dizziness and vertigo in South East Calgary, AB and North East Calgary, AB begins with understanding exactly what you are experiencing, when your symptoms occur, and how they are affecting your daily life.
Your balance depends on information from your inner ear, vision, muscles, joints, and nervous system working together. Changes in any of these systems can affect how steady you feel. Your physiotherapist will evaluate your symptoms and determine whether physiotherapy is appropriate for your needs.
Understanding Dizziness and Vertigo
Dizziness is a broad term that can describe several different sensations. You may feel lightheaded, faint, unsteady, disconnected from your surroundings, or less confident while walking or standing.
Vertigo is a specific type of dizziness that creates the sensation that you or your surroundings are moving when they are not. This may feel like spinning, tilting, rocking, or being pulled in a particular direction.
Because dizziness and vertigo can have different causes, understanding your specific symptoms is an important part of your evaluation.
Some factors that may be associated with dizziness or vertigo include:
- Changes in how the inner ear processes movement
- Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV)
- Difficulty coordinating visual and balance information
- Changes in sensation that affect awareness of your surroundings
- Certain head or body movements that trigger symptoms
- Blood pressure changes when moving between positions
- Medications or other medical conditions
- Previous illness or injury affecting the balance system
- Neurological conditions
- Migraine-associated vestibular symptoms in some individuals
Recognizing Common Signs and Symptoms
Dizziness and vertigo can feel different from one person to another. You may notice:
- Lightheadedness when getting up from a chair or bed
- A sense of unsteadiness while standing or walking
- Spinning when rolling over in bed
- A sudden sensation of movement when lying down or sitting up
- Vertigo when looking up or bending forward
- Difficulty keeping your vision clear when your head moves
- Feeling disoriented in grocery stores or other visually busy environments
- Nausea associated with movement or spinning
- Feeling less stable when walking in low light
- Difficulty moving confidently through crowds
- A temporary sense of imbalance after an episode of vertigo
- Hesitation with head movements because they have triggered symptoms before
What May Be Causing Your Symptoms?
The pattern of your symptoms can provide important information about what may be contributing to your dizziness or vertigo.
For example, brief episodes of spinning that occur when rolling over in bed, lying down, sitting up, or looking up may be associated with BPPV. BPPV occurs when tiny calcium carbonate crystals within the inner ear become displaced and interfere with normal movement signals.
Other forms of dizziness may be related to visual motion sensitivity, changes in balance processing, difficulty coordinating eye and head movements, or factors outside the vestibular system.
Your physiotherapist will not assume that every episode of dizziness or vertigo has the same cause. Instead, your history and physical examination help determine which systems may be involved and whether physiotherapy is an appropriate treatment option.
Building a Treatment Plan Around Your Symptoms
At Ability Physiotherapy & Wellness, your treatment is based on what your evaluation shows and the activities you want to return to. Depending on your symptoms and diagnosis, your care may include:
- Canalith repositioning maneuvers when examination findings support BPPV
- Positional testing to help identify patterns associated with BPPV
- Gaze stability exercises to support visual control during head movement
- Balance activities that challenge your stability in a controlled setting
- Habituation exercises when gradual exposure to certain movements is appropriate
- Strength and coordination exercises to support steadier everyday mobility
- Walking practice for environments or situations that are difficult for you
- Education to help you understand your symptoms and manage activity more effectively
Not every treatment is appropriate for every type of dizziness or vertigo. Your physiotherapist will select techniques based on your symptoms, examination findings, and goals.
Care That Starts With Understanding Your Experience
When you are experiencing dizziness or vertigo, it can be tempting to avoid the movements or situations that trigger your symptoms. While modifying activities may sometimes be appropriate, avoiding movement indefinitely may also make it harder to return to the activities you enjoy.
At Ability Physiotherapy & Wellness, we focus on understanding what triggers your symptoms and how those symptoms are affecting your daily life. We will explain our findings and help you understand why specific treatment strategies may be recommended.
Our approach includes:
- Listening carefully to how you describe your dizziness or vertigo
- Paying attention to when symptoms occur and what triggers them
- Assessing the relationship between your eyes, head, inner ear, balance, and movement
- Explaining your findings in clear, understandable language
- Helping you gradually work toward activities that have become difficult or uncomfortable
What to Expect During a Dizziness and Vertigo Evaluation
Your first appointment includes a detailed discussion about your symptoms. Your physiotherapist may ask:
- What does your dizziness or vertigo feel like?
- When did it begin?
- How long do episodes typically last?
- What movements or positions trigger your symptoms?
- Do you experience nausea, changes in vision, or balance difficulties?
- How are your symptoms affecting work, exercise, driving, or daily activities?
Your physiotherapist may also assess your eye movements, balance, walking, head movement, coordination, and response to different positions or movements when appropriate.
If BPPV is suspected, positional testing may be performed to determine whether specific head positions reproduce your symptoms. If your findings suggest that your symptoms may require medical assessment rather than physiotherapy, your physiotherapist can recommend an appropriate next step.
This careful evaluation helps people seeking care for dizziness and vertigo in South East Calgary, AB and North East Calgary, AB receive treatment based on their individual presentation rather than assumptions about the source of their symptoms.
Frequently Asked Questions
Feel More Confident During Everyday Movement
Dizziness and vertigo can affect much more than your balance. You may become hesitant to get out of bed, walk through a busy store, exercise, work, or turn your head because you are worried about triggering another episode.
Understanding your symptoms is an important first step toward determining what can be done to help. Contact Ability Physiotherapy & Wellness to schedule an evaluation if dizziness or vertigo is interfering with your daily activities. Your physiotherapist can help determine whether physiotherapy is appropriate and develop a plan based on what your evaluation shows.
THE ABILITY WAY
Care That Starts With You
We believe your care should never be one-size-fits-all. Every plan is shaped around your story, your goals, and the way you want to move through life.
- One-on-one personalized care
- A plan built around your goals
- Hands-on treatment and movement support
- Education to support lasting progress
