Vestibular group fit membership

Vestibular Group Fit is a comprehensive program designed to take a holistic approach to managing your vestibular disorder. Chronic vestibular symptoms do get better, and can be treated, always. That being said, there are many things that you may need to do or change in order to get there.

Vestibular Group Fit (VGF) takes all of these facts into consideration and creates you custom programming based on your needs, diagnoses, and symptoms. Then, we start with The Basics. The Basics are the main focuses of VGF to really get down before moving forward with treatment. You will learn how to eat and hydrate, sleep better, change your mindset to break the dizzy-anxious-dizzy cycle, and more. All of this from the comfort of your own home, without any of the triggering head movements. Returning to function and getting your life back doesn’t have to be triggering, it can be gentle and consistent in order to be most effective.

All you need to do is bring yourself! As you start with the strength training, you may need weights, but you may always use household items such as cans, bags loaded with subjectively heavy objects, or anything else you can find around the house.

A Vestibular disorder is a dysfunction of your vestibular system. First we need to back up, though. The vestibular system is your inner ear’s system of balance. You have 3 systems of balance, your vestibular system, the visual system, and proprioception. These 3 systems work together to provide optimal balance and equilibrium. Your vestibular system is deep within your inner ear and attached to the cochlea, which is your hearing organ. Just like with any other organ or bodily system, things can go wrong in the vestibular system. Learn more about how the system functions generally here.

There are 2 main factors that define vestibular disorders. The first is a peripheral vestibular disorder, which you can learn more about here, and is a disorder that occurs in the actual vestibular system itself. Then there are central vestibular disorders, click here to learn more, which occur in the brain but cause vestibular symptoms.

You have 3 systems of balance, your vision, vestibular, and proprioceptive systems. The 3 of them should work together in tandem to keep you upright, help you understand what’s in your surroundings, and more. However, when one is not working – your vestibular system, for example – the others take over. This makes it super difficult to walk in the dark or on uneven surfaces. When your vestibular system isn’t at 100% capacity, it also doesn’t work as a check for the system of checks and balances, so visual vertigo also happens because your vestibular system isn’t keeping your vision in check! There’s so much more to this, so, if you want to learn more about this, click here to listen to the podcast!

Dizziness and vertigo are not the same. Dizziness is an umbrella term for all vestibular symptoms, and is non specific, while vertigo has a specific definition. Vertigo is, by definition, the incorrect perception that you or the room around you is moving, sliding or spinning. You can have internal vertigo, which is when you feel like you or your brain are moving, or you can have external vertigo, where you feel like the room around you is spinning or moving. However, dizziness be imbalance, heavy headedness, lightheadedness, just feeling off, and more.

Diet absolutely matters in managing your vestibular disorder, because your gut is directly connected to your brain via the gut-brain-axis. The gut brain axis matters as the gut houses your immune system, makes many neurotransmitters for your brain, and so much more! Many people with VM and other vestibular disorders go on to try and use elimination diets during their treatment journey. This can be helpful when done properly (never more than 90-100 days before the reintroduction period) and then going back to eating a well rounded diet. In Vestibular Group Fit, we talk about what it takes to eat many different foods, how to balance your blood sugar, eat enough protein, and more!

Stress can absolutely impact your vestibular disorder. High levels of stress make coping more difficult because of how much it depletes your mental wellness resources. It can also be related to sleep disruption, physiological changes like neck tension and higher cortisol levels which both impact dizziness, and so much more. Stress reduction and nervous system regulation are going to be big for vestibular disorder treatment, and it’s something we focus a LOT on in Vestibular Group Fit.