TY  - CHAP
M1  - Book, Section
TI  - Postural Abnormalities in Vestibular Disorders
A1  - Keshner, Emily A.
A1  - Galgon, Anne K.
A2  - Herdman, Susan J.
A2  - Clendaniel, Richard A.
PY  - 2014
T2  - Vestibular Rehabilitation
AB  - When  this  chapter  was  written  for  the  first  edition  of  this  book,  the  vestibular  system  was  considered  to  play  its  primary  role  in  the  control  of  posture  and  balance.  In  recent  years  it  has  been  acknowledged  that  rather  than  initiate  automatic  postural  reactions,  the  vestibular  system  is  responsible  for  governing  orientation  in  space.1–3  Whereas  the  somatosensory  system  provides  information  about  the  position  and  motion  of  the  body  with  respect  to  the  support  surface  and  the  body  segments  with  respect  to  each  other,  the  vestibular  system  provides  information  with  respect  to  gravity  and  other  inertial  forces.  The  central  nervous  system  adapts  quickly  to  the  loss  of  peripheral  vestibular  inputs  from  the  labyrinths  so  that  it  is  sometimes  difficult  to  objectively  identify  symptoms  of  vestibular  deficit.  Identification  of  the  role  of  the  vestibular  system  in  posture  and  orientation  has  relied  on  findings  of  postural  and  orientation  disorders  in  patients  and  animals  with  vestibular  abnormalities.4–8  Most  clinical  diagnoses  are  based  on  subjective  complaints,  and  patient  descriptions  of  a  symptom  might  differ.  One  might  experience  a  perception  of  the  world  spinning  about,  while  another  complains  of  imbalance  and  falling,  yet  both  could  have  the  same  vestibular  pathology.9  Since  the  process  of  central  nervous  compensation  proceeds  over  a  lengthy  period  of  time,  patients  can  also  have  different  symptoms  when  they  finally  arrive  at  a  clinic,  although  suffering  a  similar  deficit.  Both  clinical  and  experimental  observations  have  shown  that  symptoms  of  vertigo,  past  pointing,  nystagmus,  and  equilibrium  disturbances  are  the  major  complaints  of  patients  with  partial  or  total  destruction  of  the  vestibular  labyrinths.10  Despite  these  fairly  consistent  symptoms,  examination  of  any  one  patient  with  postural  abnormalities  arising  from  damage  to  the  vestibular  system  could  yield  an  uncertain  diagnosis.9,10  
SN  - 
PB  - F. A. Davis Company
CY  - New York, NY
Y2  - 2024/04/25
UR  - fadavispt.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1135014975
ER  -