This Natural Vertigo Treatment Works Better Than Drugs

A new study in the International Journal of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery put two vertigo treatments head-to-head:

1) Vertigo medications (with potential side effects)
2) A specific, simple, natural approach (with no side effects).

The clear winner was #2, the natural approach.

Historically, three treatment strategies have been most frequently adopted for benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV):

- using medications alone,
- combining Epley’s maneuver with medications
- employing Epley’s maneuver by itself.

Epley’s maneuver is a series of head movements designed to move the vertigo-causing debris inside the inner ear to a location where it will no longer cause symptoms.

Many doctors believe, based on several studies, that combining Epley’s maneuver with drug therapy significantly outperforms drug therapy or Epley’s maneuver on its own.

The authors of this new study wondered whether that prevailing belief was correct and set out to find out.

They recruited 102 vertigo patients and divided them into two groups:

- Group 1 was subjected to repeated Epley’s maneuver sessions without any drug treatment.

- Group 2 patients underwent a single Epley’s maneuver session supplemented with drug therapy.

To maintain a systematic record of the effects, the researchers employed a dizziness handicap inventory (DHI) score chart. The DHI score provides a measure of the dizziness a patient experiences.

They reviewed the patients at three times: after 24 hours, after one week, and after one month.

Before any treatment, the average DHI score for Group 1 was 66.71, while that for Group 2 was slightly lower at 64.39. However, the post-treatment scores told a different tale.

1. A day after the treatments, Group 1, which had repeated Epley’s maneuver sessions, had an average DHI score of 46, whereas Group 2’s average score was slightly higher at 47.61.

2. After a week, Group 1’s average score had decreased further to 33.06, whereas Group 2’s average score had decreased only to 44.71.

3. After a month, Group 1’s score had decreased to 22.86, whereas Group 2’s score was significantly higher at 38.78.

These results show clearly that Epley’s maneuver can be a stand-alone treatment for the dizzy spells caused by benign paroxysmal positional vertigo if it is repeated until the symptoms subside.

Luckily, this series of head movements is easy to perform at home, especially after a trained professional helps with the initial diagnosis that pinpoints the ear in which the problem occurs.

Even more effective exercises exist that work for all types of vertigo, and you don’t need the guidance of a trained professional to do them. Learn these simple vertigo exercises here…