Word: vestibular
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...study conducted by Johns Hopkins researchers offers potentially lifesaving clues. Looking at data from the National Institutes for Health, researchers found that an estimated 35% of Americans over the age of 40 - roughly 69 million people - suffer from vestibular dysfunction, or as it is more commonly known, an inner-ear balance disorder. By age 60 and older, the data showed, inner-ear imbalances strike more than half of all Americans. (Watch TIME's video "Uninsured Again...
...study also found that vestibular dysfunction increased the risk of falling by a factor of 12. Although that link now seems obvious, doctors previously thought bone weakness, vision impairment and gait problems were the main culprits of falls among the elderly. And while physicians had always considered balance issues, they were concerned with those due to deteriorating vision or mental status, not the inner ear. "People with inner-ear balance problems regularly suffer dizziness or vertigo," says Dr. Yuri Agrawal, an otolaryngologist at Johns Hopkins Hospital and the study's lead author, "so it makes a lot of sense that...
Agrawal's study, published in the May 25 issue of the journal Archives of Internal Medicine, is among the first to highlight the prevalence of vestibular dysfunction. It also showed that patients who have the condition but are asymptomatic - that is, with no self-reports of dizziness - are still three times more likely to fall than healthy adults. The findings suggest that screening for such conditions during regular preventive care of patients over age 50 may lead to fewer falls and, ultimately, save lives. "Patients who are aware they're at a greater risk can take steps to minimize...
Doctors still don't know what causes vestibular dysfunction or why it is so common. The vestibular system in the inner ear is made up of three semicircular canals and two otolith organs that continuously send messages to the brain about the head's rotation and motion as well as its orientation relative to gravity. Humans keep their balance using the vestibular system's signals, along with visual cues and touch sensations. When the inner-ear signaling process is disrupted, it directly affects a person's ability to maintain equilibrium...
...psychologist and occupational therapist, published the first book on the condition. As defined by Ayres and others, SPD is a mixed bag of syndromes, but all involve difficulty handling information that comes in through the senses--not merely hearing, sight, smell, taste and touch, but also the proprioceptive and vestibular senses, which tell us where our arms and legs are in relation to the rest of us and how our body is oriented toward gravity. Some kids treated for SPD can't maintain an upright position at a desk; some are so sensitive to touch that they shriek when their...