The vestibular system is the system in the body that helps to detect the motion of our head and gives us our sense of ‘equilibrium’, or maintaining of a head upright position with respect to gravity. The vestibular system consists of an ‘end organ’ in the inner ear, and the connections to said organ in the brain. That organ lives deep in the inner ear on both sides of the head and detects motions of the head, and sends the signals from those connections to the central nervous system to be perceived. That organ is known as the ‘semicircular canals’, as well as the ‘utricle’ and ‘saccule’.
Basically these organs are oriented such that for any movement that the head can possibly make it will be detected by one or more of these organs, and that information will be sent to tell the brain that the head is moving. This happens when you are on a boat, airplane, in a car, or even just when tilting or rotating your head.
When there is damage to the vestibular end organ or to the CONNECTIONS between the organ to the brain, then you may be getting erroneous signals from that organ telling you that your head is moving, even if you are not. This is what leads to the feelings of dizziness, vertigo or spinning, moving like you are going up or down an escalator, translating left or right, being ‘weighed down’ like your head is heavy or floating up like your head is filled with air, and many other descriptions.
The concussion trained vestibular physical therapist knows how to assess and treat issues in the vestibular system, and with the right technology can quite often help to diagnose the original cause if that cause is unknown. Two of the most common causes of vestibular dysfunction aside from concussion include BPPV and vestibular neuritis.