PHILADELPHIA, Pa. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- For the more than six million Americans who struggle with chronic dizziness or vertigo everyday activities like standing up, walking or driving a car may be nearly unbearable. Injury or illness is often to blame, but sometimes the cause remains a mystery and researchers say women are more likely than men to suffer from one type of unexplained vertigo. Now, a cutting edge virtual lab is helping patients reclaim their lives.

Imagine being on an amusement park ride that never ends. For someone with chronic dizziness, it's no laughing matter. "Once I had to ask my husband, I had to park the car and have him come get me, cause I couldn't drive anywhere," vertigo patient Melanie Davis told Ivanhoe.

For Davis medicine didn't work, neither did physical therapy. And doctors had no idea what was wrong.

"Their vestibular system seems fine. All of their other sensory systems seem fine, but for some reason, these people can't tolerate busy visual environments," Emily Keshner, P.T., Ed.D., Virtual Environment and Postural Orientation Lab Temple University in Philadelphia, PA, told Ivanhoe.

Dr. Keshner says women are more susceptible than men to visual sensitivity. These are among the patients most likely to benefit from a virtual 3D room Dr. Keshner and her colleagues have created.

Six projectors beam double images onto each one of the screens. Patients don 3D glasses to bring the images into focus. A special forceplate in the middle can shift up and down, and from side to side. Patients stand in a safety harness to protect them from a possible fall. Reflective markers on the patient record movements as they react to changes in their virtual environment.

Keshner says when researchers can predict how a patient will respond; they may be able to help. "We try to train them to pay more attention to the feedback they're getting from their own body, and less attention to what's happening in the world around them," Dr. Keshner said.

Davis says she felt an immediate change. "By the end of the second week, it was like, I don't need you, I can walk by myself," said Davis.

If you would like more information, please contact:

Emily Keshner
ekeshner@temple.edu