Emergency Department Vestibular Rehabilitation Therapy for Dizziness and Vertigo

Overview

Dizziness leads to around 2 million visits to emergency departments (ED) each year, posing challenges for doctors. Most research has focused on improving care guidelines rather than creating solutions that directly help patients improve their daily lives.

Objective

This study aimed to assess the practicality of using vestibular rehabilitation therapy (ED-VeRT) in the emergency department to help patients with dizziness.

Study Details

This nonrandomized clinical trial was conducted from November 2021 to February 2023 at a single urban ED in the U.S. Patients were assigned to receive either ED-VeRT or usual care based on the treating physician’s decision.

Interventions

ED-VeRT was provided by a physical therapist using a specific protocol that addressed various types of dizziness.

Main Outcomes

The study tracked how many patients were screened, enrolled, and remained involved over three months. The effectiveness was measured by changes in two specific scores related to dizziness and activity avoidance.

Results

Out of 366 patients screened, 125 participated, with a median age of 52 years. The majority (84%) completed follow-up surveys. Of these, 63 received vestibular therapy. Although they started with higher dizziness scores, the therapy group reported slight improvements at three months, although not statistically significant.

Conclusions

The trial showed that ED vestibular therapy can be effectively applied to patients with dizziness. However, the observed improvements were not statistically significant, indicating the need for a larger, well-structured study.

Clinical Trial Registration

ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT05122663.

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