Springfield Hospital Offers Balance at Chronic Dizziness Treatment Center

Feeling lightheaded or even a little dizzy after an amusement park ride or when you fall madly in love can be exciting and even fun.

But feeling lightheaded and dizzy when you are driving or walking or just going about your daily routine can be alarming and dangerous and may suggest you need to seek treatment.

Lucky for you Springfield, help is just around the corner at the Crozer-Keystone Center for Dizziness and Balance at .

Since opening in the spring of 2010, the Center has treated hundreds of patients, of all ages, and offers both treatment and hope to individuals who have experienced and suffer with dizziness, balance dysfunction and chronic falling.

“The Center for Dizziness and Balance was organized by several doctors who recognized the need to have a center with a multi-disciplinary approach to treating a chronic disease state such as dizziness, balance dysfunction and chronic falling, all of which are becoming more prevalent as our population ages,” said Dr. John C. Munshower, D.O., FACSG.

The Center’s multi-disciplinary team approach [MDA] consists of many board-certified physicians including neurologists, primary care physicians, otolaryngologists (ear, nose, and throat), rehabilitation specialists and others.

“The nice thing about our approach is that we can really get down to the root of the cause of the dizziness by incorporating various modalities and testing that is not available to primary care physicians and our patients have been engaged, enthusiastic and have generally done very well,” said Dr. Munshower.

“Patients may experience dizziness and a sensation of the room spinning, vertigo, nausea, problems with balance and even chronic falling. But when they do see their primary care physician, it [dizziness] is often the second or third complaint they have. They are really seeking treatment for high blood pressure, heart disease or even high cholesterol.”

The Center often receives referrals from primary care physicians (PCP) and begins quickly focusing on dizziness-related issues as soon as a patient arrives by conducting a comprehensive diagnostic evaluation that physicians and the team’s specialists scrutinize in order to develop a personalized treatment plan.

That evaluation will also frequently include a free ride (Bonus alert: No waiting in line) on the Computerized Dynamic Posturography test (CDP), the Center’s high-tech version of a combination NASA simulator and carnival ride.

After patients are strapped into a harness, they stand on a platform and are asked to focus on a visual image as the platform moves about, so their reactions and shifts in body weight can be measured, all the while they painlessly react to and experience the joys and sensations of computer-generated shifting-floors.

“The test (CDP) helps us to better understand a patient’s dizziness and whether it’s an inner ear problem,” said Dr. Munshower. “Sometimes the inner ear gets offset and just little differences with the inner ear can cause dizziness, vertigo, the room spinning and can really affect your activities of daily living. Using the CDP, we can further our treatment and provide better care for our patients.”

Millions of people, who may not suffer from the disease directly, are aware of dizziness and its destructive influence on people’s lives thanks to Hollywood movies and even NASA.

On the big screen, Jimmy Stewart immortalized the vertigo-tormented character in Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo, while in real-life, astronaut Alan Shepard, America’s First Man in Space, suffered from an inner ear ailment and was grounded by NASA from 1963 to 1969.

After receiving treatment, Shepard was later reactivated, and ultimately became the fifth man to walk on the Moon in 1971.

Much has changed in the study of dizziness with new treatments and advancements in the years since Shepard battled an inner ear ailment and Hitchcock made audiences cringe with fear at the prospect of suffering from vertigo.

And Springfield Hospital’s Crozer-Keystone Center for Dizziness and Balance is helping to lead the way for people who suffer from dizziness related diseases and who may not know where to turn for help.

“We want people of all ages to know that there is help out there for them and that our center will help them to coordinate what can be a very complicated process to getting the correct and comprehensive diagnosis as well as coordinating the care that they need to get better,” said Carla DeWald, Administrative Director of the Center for Dizziness and Balance at Springfield Hospital.

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