Traumatic brain injury

The vestibular system:

• The balance system but not the primary function

• The primary function of this system is balancing gaze

• This is due to the vestibular system not detecting movement and only detecting accerlation eg moving ur head to look at your phone

• Angular acceleration, moving head left to right or up and down

• Linear acceleration, type of acceleration you get in a lift

• Visual and vestibular system preserve visual acuity and spatial orientation

• Gaze stabilisation is mediated by retinal slip velocities and vestibular ocular reflex

• Example:

• When a child spins around they get dizzy due to vestibular system being activated

• Vestibular percepyual connection makes you feel dizzy, vestibular automotive response

• When you move to the left, your eyes will move right (eye movement in response to movement)

• Eye movement can be a measure for movement, can give us a perceptual response

• Balance is achieved through sensory integration

• Bision contributes to balance

• Balance system is not important however the individuals feelings/perception is what affects balance

• Vestibular perception:

• Questions how different people see different things

• We can sit people in a rotating chair, if you want to assess vestibular perception you tske away visual and proceotive perception

• Visual-vestibular interactions:

• Need to differentiate between world and object motion

• “Am i moving or is the world moving”

• Self motion is characterised by eye movement, if i move to the left my eyes will to the move right (VN)

• When there is world motion however, if the world moves to the left, my eyes will also move to the left (OKN)

• When there is vestibular activation there is either an inhibiton or suppression of visual response