Instagram
YouTubePhysical maneuvers: In 1980s, a series of physical maneuvers were discovered for treating BPPV. They are described in Wikipedia article for BPPV. They are Epley maneuver, Semont-Toupet maneuver and Brandt-Daroff exercises. In 2011, a new maneuver was discovered: the Half Somersault, which has the advantage of being simple to understand and execute in a home setting, without expert assistance.
Effectiveness: The Wikipedia article says:
Dr Carol Foster is an Associate Professor of Otolaryngology (a medical specialty which is focused on the ears, nose, and throat) at the University of Colorado. One day, she experienced BPPV herself. That motivated her to devise the Half Somersault Maneuver that she could perform at home by herself. The Half Somersault is simple to understand. It's easy to execute at home by ourselves, without assistance. Thus it's an improvement over the Epley Maneuver which typically requires assistance from a specialist (a physical therapist).
Book: Overcoming Positional Vertigo (200 pages, 2019) by Dr Carol Foster. This book has information about positional vertigo and describes her technique. Amazon book reviews contain brief personal stories — this maneuver has worked like magic to resolve BPPV for so many people!
Research paper: (2012) A Comparison of Two Home Exercises for Benign Positional Vertigo: Half Somersault versus Epley Maneuver by C A Foster, A Ponnapan, K Zaccaro, D Strong, Audiol Neurotol Extra 2012;2:16-23. This paper has pictures and a good technical description of the Half Somersault maneuver.
Videos: It would help to watch multiple videos about the Half Somersault maneuver. Each video offers some unique insight or tidbit of information that may be helpful.
A great video with over 5 million views. Describes Carol Foster's technique for fixing BPPV.
Wikipedia article on Epley Maneuver explains:
Even though the maneuver as designed in 1980, a research paper describing it was published only in 1992:
Research paper: J M Epley, “The Canalith repositioning procedure: for treatment of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo,” Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery, vol. 107, no. 3, pp. 399–404, 1992.
In one of their videos below, Bob and Brad mention that when Dr Epley presented this maneuver in 1980 to other doctors, they pooh-poohed him. It took him 21 years to get the maneuver officially accepted as part of medical guidelines.
The Epley Maneuver requires an assistant. Best done in a clinical physiotherapy setting. After learning the maneuver from a specialist, it may be possible to apply it ourselves at home if we understand it well.
Bob and Brad have multiple videos on the Epley Maneuver. The two videos below capture the essential points.
The Semont-Toupet Maneuver (Wikipedia) for BPPV was described in 1980s:
Research paper: (1985) M Toupet and A Semont, “La physiothérapie du vertige paroxystique bénin,” in 20th Symposium d'ENG de langue française, R. Häusler, Ed., pp. 21–27, Ipsen, Paris, France, 1985.
A comparison of Epley and Semont-Toupet maneuvers has shown that both are equally effective. See Cochrane Review article below:
Cochrane Review (2014): The Epley (canalith repositioning) manoeuvre for benign paroxysmal positional vertigo by Malcolm P Hinton and Darren K Pinder, Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2014 Dec 8;(12):CD003162. Excerpts from this article:
Are Epley Maneuver and Semont-Toupet Maneuver officially recognized? Yes. See (2017) Clinical Practice Guideline: Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (Update) by N Bhattacharya and others, Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2017 Mar; 156(3_suppl):S1-S47. This is an update of a 2008 guideline from the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation.
A good video showing the maneuver and citations to literature.
Research paper: T. Brandt and R. B. Daroff, “Physical therapy for benign paroxysmal positional vertigo,” Archives of Otolaryngology, vol. 106, no. 8, pp. 484–485, 1980.
The Epley maneuver and Simont-Toupet maneuvers are said to be more effective.
gurmeet@gmail.com