Posturography and vestibular compensation.

In unilateral vestibular hypofunction, compensation has to be achieved at the several levels of the balance function. The development of compensation at each level has not necessarily a parallel course. Accordingly, a thorough evaluation of the functional state of the patient, requires a separate assessment for each level. In clinical practice, compensation is evaluated by the testing of provoked vertigo (with eventual positional nystagmus) and by the rotation test results. To these data a measurement of the vestibulospinal level has to be added. Posturography provides this assessment and in this way the global functional state is completed. In many cases the complaints can be objectified and the elaboration of adequate rehabilitation exercises can be founded upon these posturographic data. The detailed analysis of the posturograpohic curves furnishes a diversification of the dysfunctional patterns at this balance level, with also emphasis upon the sensory interaction.