Rationale of rehabilitation treatment for vertigo.

Rehabilitation treatment is based on experimental data concerning compensation and adaptation in peripheral vestibular lesions. Patients with a steady state of peripheral vestibular dysfunction are candidates for rehabilitation therapy. Provoked (positioning) vertigo resulting from such lesions is treated by individually selected exercises (vestibular habituation training). Functional evaluation is indispensable for patient selection. In accordance with experimental data, the exercises are selected individually by testing patients with a vestibular habituation training test battery. The favorable effect of vestibular habituation treatment is suggested by comparison with drug and sham treatments in similar cases.