New interactive website may help reduce dizziness among elderly!

Scientists have developed an interactive website that can better reduce dizziness among older adults as compared to patients receiving standard care. The Balance Retraining site, developed by researchers at the University of Southampton in the UK, significantly lowered levels of dizziness symptoms in patients after three and six months. After three months, 40 per cent of people using the site reported that they felt ‘much better’ or ‘completely well’ – twice as many as in the medical doctor care group.

Dizziness affects nearly one in three people aged over 65 in the UK and is often caused by problems with the vestibular (balance) organ in the inner ear. Patients with ‘vestibular dizziness’, such as those examined in this study, can suffer severe symptoms, triggered by simple everyday movements like turning over in bed, or looking left and right to cross the road. These symptoms are very disruptive – leading to falls, anxiety, depression and loss of independence.

The recommended treatment is a simple exercise-based therapy called vestibular rehabilitation, which involves nodding and shaking the head. Previous research has shown that patients using this therapy are nearly three times more likely to reduce their dizziness than those who do not. However, very few …read more