If you've ever felt the room spinning for no apparent reason, struggled to walk in a straight line, or found that sudden head movements leave you nauseated and disoriented, you're not imagining it, and you're not alone. These are classic signs that your vestibular system may need some help.
Vestibular physiotherapy is a specialized form of treatment designed to address exactly these kinds of symptoms. At Pro Health Chiropractic & Physiotherapy in Nolan Hill, NW Calgary, it's one of the more unique services we offer and one that makes a real difference for patients who've often been struggling without answers.
What Is the Vestibular System, Anyway?
Your vestibular system lives in your inner ear and works alongside your brain and eyes to help your body understand where it is in space. It's what tells you whether you're upright, moving, or tilting, and it coordinates that information with what your eyes are seeing and what your muscles are feeling.
When that system gets disrupted through injury, illness, aging, or conditions like BPPV (benign paroxysmal positional vertigo) — the signals start to conflict. Your brain gets confused. And that confusion shows up as dizziness, vertigo, brain fog, or that unsettling feeling that the ground isn't quite where you expect it to be.
What Does Vestibular Physiotherapy Actually Involve?
Vestibular rehabilitation physiotherapy isn't about massage or manipulation. It's a targeted, evidence-based program of specific exercises designed to retrain your brain and vestibular system to communicate accurately again.
At Pro Health, vestibular physiotherapy is led by Mihai Prajea, MScPT, who holds both introductory and advanced certification through the Dizziness and Balance Rehabilitation Clinic, one of Canada's leading vestibular training programs. He also completed Manual Therapy Levels 1–3 through the Orthopaedic Division of the Canadian Physiotherapy Association. That level of specialized training is genuinely rare in NW Calgary.
Treatment typically begins with a thorough assessment to identify exactly what's driving your symptoms. From there, a personalized program might include:
- Gaze stabilization exercises: training your eyes to stay focused while your head moves, which reduces dizziness triggered by visual motion
- Balance and gait retraining: improving stability and confidence when walking, especially on uneven ground or in busy environments
- Habituation exercises: gradual, controlled exposure to the movements or situations that trigger your symptoms, helping your brain adapt and stop overreacting
- Canalith repositioning maneuvers: for patients with BPPV, specific head movements that guide displaced calcium crystals back to where they belong (often dramatically effective within just a few sessions)
Who Can Vestibular Physiotherapy Help?
Vestibular physiotherapy exercises and treatment can benefit a wide range of patients, including those dealing with:
- Vertigo — the sensation that you or the room is spinning
- BPPV — sudden, brief episodes of dizziness triggered by head position changes
- Vestibular neuritis or labyrinthitis — inner ear conditions that cause sudden, severe vertigo
- Concussion or post-concussion syndrome — dizziness and balance issues following a head injury
- Chronic dizziness or balance problems with no clear diagnosis
- Unsteadiness related to aging or neurological conditions
Many patients come to vestibular physiotherapy after months (sometimes years) of being told their symptoms are "just anxiety" or passed from specialist to specialist without a clear plan. What they often discover is that their symptoms have a mechanical cause that responds well to the right targeted treatment.
How Long Does Recovery Take?
This varies considerably depending on what's causing your symptoms. Patients with BPPV often see dramatic improvement within one to three sessions following a repositioning maneuver. More complex vestibular disorders, like those following a concussion or long-standing vestibular dysfunction, typically require a longer course of vestibular rehabilitation physiotherapy, often six to twelve weeks of consistent exercise and follow-up.
The honest answer is: it depends on your specific situation. But the encouraging part is that most patients who commit to their program do make meaningful progress. The brain's ability to adapt and compensate — what clinicians call neuroplasticity — means that with the right input, the system can learn to work better again.
What to Expect at Your First Appointment
Your initial assessment with Mihai at Pro Health will focus on understanding your history and pinpointing the source of your symptoms. He'll likely assess your eye movements, head and neck mobility, balance, and how your symptoms change with position.
If you've had imaging done (MRI, CT scans) or seen other specialists, bring those records — they help rule out causes that require different management and allow your physiotherapist to build the most targeted plan for you.
Pro Health is located at 318 Nolanridge Cres NW, Suite #430 in Nolan Hill, with appointment availability Monday through Friday, 9am–7pm, and Saturday 9am–3pm. New patients can book directly at prohealthchiro.janeapp.com.
Dizziness Isn't Something You Just Have to Live With
That's the message we want to leave you with. Vertigo and balance problems are genuinely disruptive — they affect your ability to drive, work, exercise, and feel safe in your own body. But they often have a specific cause, and specific causes have specific treatments.
If you're in NW Calgary and you've been dealing with dizziness, vertigo, or balance issues, it's worth talking to someone with the right training to assess what's actually going on.
Reach out to Pro Health Chiropractic & Physiotherapy to book a vestibular assessment with Mihai Prajea, or ask our team whether this type of care might be right for you.
