Rather than receiving medication, patients in the Center for Dizziness and Balance are more often treated with a customized program of physical therapy and, if needed, diet and lifestyle modifications. The program has three physical therapists on staff who work only with patients who have problems with dizziness and imbalance. One of these therapists, Susan Herdman, Ph.D., P.T., is the author of the nation's most utilized textbook on vestibular rehabilitation. Physical therapy plays a key role in treatment at the Center. As we get older, muscles atrophy, we develop arthritis, our range of motion diminishes.
People often develop a fear of falling.
They then become more sedentary. It's a vicious cycle. The Center for Dizziness and Balance is based at the Emory Center for Rehabilitation Medicine. Dr. Tusa, who holds joint appointments in the Emory Departments of Neurology, Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology, is the founder and former director of the University's of Miami's Dizziness and Eye Movement Center. Earlier, he spent 13 years at Johns Hopkins University, where he began his research in vision and eye movement.