Balance & Equilibrium Testing

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Balance & Equilibrium Testing

Balance & Equilibrium Testing (CDP)

What is Computerized Dynamic Posturography? (Smart Balance Master by NeuroCom) The ability to maintain balance is very complex and depends on three major components:

  • The sensory systems (for example, vision and touch) for accurate information about your body position.
  • The brain’s ability to use this information.
  • The muscles and joints abilities to coordinate movements required to maintain balance.

Computerized Dynamic Posturography (CDP) is a series of functional testing procedures used to evaluate each of these factors. The information obtained provides information needed to make treatment decisions by you and your healthcare professional. The techniques used in CDP were initially developed with support from NASA and later from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). CDP has been used worldwide in scientific research for decades. It is considered the “Gold Standard” for functional evaluation of balance impairment.

What Happens During CDP?

There are several tests within the CDP evaluation protocol. During testing you will be wearing a safety harness and standing on a special platform in an environment that will challenge your balance systems in different ways. As one example, you will be asked to keep your eyes closed during brief periods of the test. Your body should automatically respond in each part of the balance system challenged, such as having eyes closed, thus using the other systems balance. Other tests include measuring your balance reaction when the platform on which you are standing standing on is moving. The entire evaluation is safe, painless and brief. You only need to relax stand quietly and do your best to follow instructions for each of the test periods. Your responses are automatically recorded by the computer and compared to the balance you should normally have at your age and then reviewed to narrow down your functional balance problem and design a focused treatment strategy for you.

Why is CDP Test Information Important?

If you have been experiencing balance problems, complete understanding of the problem is the first step to planning effective treatments. CDP results will be combined with information from your medical history, your physical evaluation, and any other laboratory tests you may have had. CDP results are unique, hoping to focus rehabilitation on the right problem and eliminate any guesswork. After a period of this targeted rehabilitation, retesting is done to confirm for you and your healthcare professionals that you are on the right track to recovery and to make any adjustments that may be necessary.

How Much Does It Cost?

Your healthcare professional will discuss the CDP charges. CDP charges are typically, but not always paid health insurance. The importance of CDP evaluation to successful treatment has been established by decades of scientific and clinical research, but there are some insurance policies that do not pay for CDP. If your insurance company does not include CDP in your coverage you may be asked to pay separately for the CDP evaluation.

Balance – Important Every Day

Balance is vital to everyday life activities such as getting out of the chair and walking, bending over to put on your shoes, washing your hair, driving a car, or going grocery shopping. Everything you do in your daily life with your work or leisure requires balance control – most of the time you don’t have to think about it. Balance problems develop they can cause profound disruptions in your daily life. In addition to increased risk of falls, balance problems can shorten your attention span, disrupt normal sleep patterns, cause you to limit your social activities, and cause excessive fatigue. As a result, people with balance and dizziness problems can have difficulty even the simplest of tasks.

State-of-the-Art Balance Assessment and Balance Re-Training Technology

NeuroCom Smart Balance Master Systems We utilize the same advanced state-of-the-art balance assessment and re-training technology as that used by NASA to test its astronauts, including U.S. Senator John Glenn. The Smart Balance Master System allows the therapist to objectively measure and quantify the physical impairments brought on by balance disorders and how they cause functional limitations which affect their daily lives; at work, at home and out in the real world, such as in crowded areas.

Our system provides testing data for accurate evaluation, planning of balance re-training exercises and documentation for your physician about your condition and progress.

Sensory Organization Testing

During a functional performance evaluation, we obtain information about your ability to organize the information received from the different body senses [outlined above] that are contributing to balance and possibly causing your balance impairment, walking difficulty or risk of falling. Testing is simple and painless without any pre-testing preparation required.

This information is then used to understand how your balance problem is affecting your functional difficulties and impacting on your life, by compromising your postural stability, independent walking capability, risk of falling and general health and safety. By combining traditional therapeutic exercise techniques while utilizing our sophisticated technology, we are able to develop treatment programs that are individually tailored to the patient, using visual feedback, guided exercises and simulated life situations, promoting recovery of your balance disorder. Progress is measurable and objective, eliminating guess work and estimates.

Understanding Your Balance

If you are experiencing balance or dizziness problem you want to know:

  • What is causing my problem?
  • What can be done about my problem?

You have taken an important step by consulting healthcare professionals and special training and expertise. The process starts with a complete evaluation. Computerized Dynamic Posturography [CDP] is a key part of a thorough evaluation of your balance system. CDP results provide unique insight about factors that may be contributing to your balance problem.