Vertigo is an unsettling condition that turns your world upside down. It’s caused by a disruption of the vestibular system in the inner ear. When standing still, sufferers of this condition feel like the world is in motion — a sensation that can cause nausea and balance issues. A typical treatment for vertigo includes a technique called the Epley maneuver, usually administered by a doctor. It requires that a patient be shifted through different positions held in 30-second to two-minute intervals.
A study published in the medical journal Neurology found that watching YouTube videos of this maneuver could teach sufferers how to quell vertigo episodes themselves. Kevin A. Kerber, the author of the study from the University of Michigan Health System, and his collegeues viewed some of the videos and rated their accuracy. They found that most of them display the maneuver accurately, some comments even mentioned that physicians were using the videos as prescribed treatment for the condition.
The only thing that was missing from the videos, says Kerber, was information about how to diagnose vertigo and the difference between it and other causes of dizziness. "Despite this, we found it encouraging to think that YouTube could be used to disseminate information about this maneuver and educate more people about how to treat this disorder." The team plans to conduct more research to test the videos’ effectiveness on patient outcome.
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