Telehealth for Vertigo: How We Treat Dizziness Virtually

Many dizzy patients struggle accessing quality help. Furthermore, they struggle accessing quality help that is close by. Of course, that was before telehealth.

In a country where one in three adults will experience a vestibular disorder over their lifetime, in each state there are as few as one or two vestibular specialists who have the right equipment to diagnose and treat vestibular disorders. Imagine if there were only a handful of dentists that could fill cavities in each state. We’d all be walking around with toothaches.

Unfortunately, that’s the reality for dizzy patients. Many of them are forced to live life with dizziness because the nearest vestibular specialist is 5 hours or 5 states away. Well, something spectacular happened in 2020. In 2020, Vestibular Audiologists began treating vestibular disorders via telehealth. Telehealth is the practice of providing health services remotely. In other words, the doctor (us) is in one place and the patient (you) is in another. And despite the distance, we still deliver care.

How Telehealth Works

Over the past few years, researchers in the vestibular field developed diagnosis protocols for telehealth. This is fancy talk for saying that there are certain procedures we can administer through telehealth mirroring what we do in our clinic. Therefore, just like a regular first visit to the Dizzy & Vertigo Institute of Los Angeles, we start our telehealth program with a consultation. Except now, the consultation takes place via video chat. Here’s an example of the telehealth consultation:

After the first video visit, our healthcare team decides if our telehealth program fits your condition. Generally, we accept these conditions for our telehealth program:

• Post-Concussion Dizziness
• Balance and dizziness patients with and without fall risk
• Vestibular disorders

Following the initial evaluation, we’ll set you up with our online patient portal. This is your destination to go through the vestibular rehabilitation therapy program. It’s fairly straightforward website for viewing the treatment videos. Additionally, you can schedule follow-up appointments on the website. Here’s a brief view of the patient portal:

What Do Patients Need?

Just yourself, an internet connection, and a phone, tablet, or computer with a webcam. To get the most out of therapy, we recommend the use of an Oculus Go VR. Frankly, it’s optional. But, we can cross that bridge once we get there.

How To Get Started

No matter where you are in the United States right now, we can get you started on the right path to treating your dizziness from home. Click this link to schedule your initial consultation with the Dizzy & Vertigo Institute Team. Also, if you’re a Physical Therapy Clinic, Audiology Clinic, or ENT Physician interested in this software for your practice, shoot us an email at care[at]dizzyandvertigo.com. We will happily share with you how to get this telehealth program set up in your clinic.