iPhone App Helps To Cure Vertigo 57
vleky writes "This is thinking outside the box ... or head. Dr. Matthew Bromwich of the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario has written an iPhone app to help doctors with the Epley maneuver to cure some forms of vertigo. The patient places the iPhone against his or her forehead and the app leads the doctor through the maneuver. Bromwich's first attempt at the app sounded even more fun. With that version, the iPhone hung from the front of a baseball cap the patient wore, and the patient tried to keep a ball centered in a twisting tube by moving their head. Winning the game meant the maneuver had been successfully completed and the vertigo cured."
A bit misleading.. (Score:5, Informative)
While the Epley maneuver is effective, it does not actually cure the problem. The problem is that sometimes particles form in the inner ear and can disturb the nerves that senses changes in balance. The maneuver only moves them to a different location where they don't cause problems. The particles are still there. They occasionally can get back into a place where they can cause problems. I've had it for 10 years and it comes and goes. However, it still is better than nothing.
Re:iPhone cures vertigo? (Score:2, Informative)
It's BPPV. It's actually fairly common. I've had it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benign_paroxysmal_positional_vertigo [wikipedia.org]
The treatment is also fairly simple -- it's called the Epley Maneuver. You can even do it yourself (there are versions of it that are suitable for self-administration -- you can google them). It's extremely simple... but it's surprising how many general practitioners don't know it (well, mine certainly didn't). They probably read about the procedure in a text book once and then promptly forgot. Essentially the goal is to move the patient's head in a pattern so as to use gravity to re-channel the calcium particles to a location where they don't cause problems.
It's like: (for clearing stuff up in the left inner ear)
1) sit up straight for 60 seconds.
2) quickly lie down, with head tilted 45 degrees to the right for 60 seconds.
3) tilt head 90 degrees to the left, and remain for 60 seconds.
4) tilt head another 90 degrees to the left, with face facing the floor diagonally. Stay for 60 seconds.
5) sit up with head tilted 45 degrees to the left. Remain for 60 seconds.
6) repeat.
(directions are opposite for the right inner ear).
It's all just physics.