The Balance Center at SOCH

Balance and vestibular disorders are characterized by the uneasy and uncomfortable sensation of feeling dizzy, slipping and almost falling. The issue of poor balance and falls is a significant one in today's society. One in four people over the age of 65 who live at home will fall during the next year.

Once a person feels unsteady and has the perception they may fall, the human response is to reduce the level of function to avoid injury. Proper testing of the balance system at the Balance Center at SOCH will provide people who suffer from balance disorders with an accurate diagnosis, thus allowing for comprehensive medical treatment and/or rehabilitation exercises to improve quality of life.

The ability to maintain our balance involves three main systems that must work together to allow for our function and quality of life to be maintained. These three systems provide sensory information about our environment, the position of our body in space and how our body is moving.

• Vision: the sensation of your position in space and information about your environment
• Vestibular System (located in the inner ear): provides information that helps the body maintain postural equilibrium and also allows for coordination of the head and the movement of the eyes.
• Somatosensory System (Musculoskeletal): provides information about your body’s position in space, separate from your visual or vestibular input

If any one of these areas are injured, damaged by disease, altered by medication, or just weakened by time and poor habits (poor posture or muscle de-conditioning) the system is weakened and the possibility of falling increases.

A number of conditions can lead to problems with balance, including head injury, stroke, orthopedic injuries, osteoarthritis, neurological problems and conditions that result in problems with blood supply to the inner ear or balance center of the brain. These can include being overweight, smoking, having high blood pressure or having arteriosclerosis, which is a narrowing or hardening of vessels that supply blood to the brain.

• Difficulty getting up from a chair or out of bed
• Loss of balance while standing still
• Numbness or loss of sensation in the legs
• Trouble walking up or down inclined surfaces
• More than one fall in the last year
• Vision problems, such as double or blurred vision
• A worsening of dizziness symptoms when the patient changes positions

At the Balance Center at SOCH, a licensed audiologist uses state-of-the-art equipment called Posturography and Video Nystagmography to test all components of a patient’s balance system. The tests are interpreted by a licensed audiologist and read by a SOCH Neurologist or Ear, Nose and Throat specialist.

Based on the results of the balance study, the patient may benefit from vestibular rehabilitation therapy, which is a specific type of physical therapy designed for those with balance problems. In severe cases, the patient may also benefit from certain medications.

Vestibular Rehabilitation Therapy is provided by SOCH's specially trained physical therapy staff, who are located at:

• Southern Ocean County Hospital's main campus, first floor, 1140 Route 72 West, Manahawkin
  
• The Ocean Club, 700 Route 9 South, Stafford Township
  
• The SOCH Center for Health, 279 Mathistown Road, Little Egg Harbor
  
• The SOCH Center for Health, 730 Lacey Road, Forked River

The Balance Center is located at 53 Nautilus Drive, across from the Hospital’s main campus in Manahawkin.

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