YouTube Videos to Treat Vertigo

There is a lot you can learn from the popular video sharing website YouTube. Right from providing access to a wide range of Audio and Videos to YouTube now offers to cure people suffering from Vertigo.

An article published in the Journal Neurology reports that YouTube videos are helpful in treating benign paroxysmal positional vertigo or BPPV.

BBPV that is caused due to loose calcium carbonate deposits moving around in the inner ear canal is what causes dizziness. This problem remains untreated by doctors, despite the fact that it can be quickly remedied with a simple technique called Epley maneuver. The maneuver uses gravity to move the calcium crystals out of the sensing tube and into another inner chamber of the ear, where they do not cause symptoms.

The researcher at the Univerit of Michigan studied how youtube users searched for solutions to a condition known as benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. Nearly 6 million people in United States fall a victim to this, and is also responsible for nearly 40 percent of doctor visits related to dizziness.

The researchers found that 33 videos showing Epley maneuver. This is generally used by health care people to help patients who are victim of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, or BPPV. The video with the most hits was produced by the American Academy of Neurology, a leading professional organization for neurologists.

"One shortcoming of the videos was that they did not include information on how to diagnose BPPV, and some of the comments indicate that people who do not have BPPV may be trying these maneuvers because of dizziness from other causes," said study author Kevin A. Kerber, MD, of the University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor and a member of the American Academy of Neurology. "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." Kerber and his colleagues are currently working on projects to test the effectiveness of video interventions on patient outcomes.