Vertigo can result from many causes, but is most often caused by damage to the balance organ of the inner ear. As well as the cochlea for hearing, the inner ear contains a very sensitive organ, the vestibular labyrinth, designed to help maintain balance.
The vestibular labyrinth is made up of three semicircular canals - lateral, posterior and superior. They join together at the vestibule.
The semicircular canals are arranged at right angles to one another. They can detect and measure movements and acceleration in all three planes of space.
The inner ear balance organ can also detect the direction of gravity.
The right and left balance organs work together, constantly sending signals via the audiovestibular nerves to the brain, telling you which way up you are, whether you are moving, turning, etc. and in which direction.
When your inner ear balance organ is damaged, it sends a false signal to the brain.
Vertigo results when the brain believes the false signal and acts accordingly.
The commonest condition to affect the inner ear is labyrinthitis, which means inflammation of the labyrinth and causes severe rotatory vertigo.
Labyrinthitis often causes permanent and irreversible damage to the inner ear. The recovery that follows is not because the inner ear gets better, but because the brain learns to ignore, adjust to or compensate for the false signal.
The brain learning to make allowances for the faulty information coming from the inner ear is known as central compensation.
The vestibular labyrinth is made up of three semicircular canals - lateral, posterior and superior. They join together at the vestibule.
The semicircular canals are arranged at right angles to one another. They can detect and measure movements and acceleration in all three planes of space.
The inner ear balance organ can also detect the direction of gravity.
The right and left balance organs work together, constantly sending signals via the audiovestibular nerves to the brain, telling you which way up you are, whether you are moving, turning, etc. and in which direction.
When your inner ear balance organ is damaged, it sends a false signal to the brain.
Vertigo results when the brain believes the false signal and acts accordingly.
The commonest condition to affect the inner ear is labyrinthitis, which means inflammation of the labyrinth and causes severe rotatory vertigo.
Labyrinthitis often causes permanent and irreversible damage to the inner ear. The recovery that follows is not because the inner ear gets better, but because the brain learns to ignore, adjust to or compensate for the false signal.
The brain learning to make allowances for the faulty information coming from the inner ear is known as central compensation.
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