Doctor Discovers A DIY Vertigo Treatment
AURORA, Colo. (CBS) – A Colorado doctor found a treatment to common vertigo that people can use at home.
Vertigo affects more than seven million people in the United States. The symptoms include feeling your surroundings spinning when nothing is moving. The most common form, positional vertigo, happens when particles in the ear that sense gravity get dislodged and end up in spinning sensors.
Dr. Carol Foster at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, herself has experienced positional vertigo. One morning, when treating herself, she discovered a do-it-yourself method to treat vertigo at home. A discovery which could be life-changing for those who become disabled at times from dizzy spells, CBS Denver's Health Specialist Kathy Walsh reports.
She calls it the 'Half Somersault Maneuver.' Patients put their head upside-down as if they were about to perform a somersault. They wait for dizziness to end and raise their head to back level; then wait again for dizziness to end, and sit back up quickly.
A six-month study showed patients preferred the exercise over others commonly used by doctors.
"I was surprised at how well it worked," Foster said. "My goal in life is to basically get rid of all dizziness on the planet Earth."
None of the patients in the study returned to their doctor for dizziness treatment.
