Barb, if you have an issue with balance, it seems to me that it's far better to go to someone who is trained specifically to treat balance issues. Not that therapists are created equal, so you might find a PT who knows a lot about balance, but a VRT specialist should know just what to do and, more important, how to evaluate you, which a PT might not know. For example, I learned that age has lessened the ability of my feet to communicate to me what they feel, so I need to work especially hard on that.

One of the most important things is that the person will be able to motivate you to really work on balance. I know that after a month or so, with far better balance, it's very tempting to say, "Ah, that's fixed. No need to do more." But that leads you back to having the same problems you had to begin with. Right after my three bi-weekly appts with the VRT specialist, there was a wildfire near me that destroyed nearly 300 homes, mostly of low-income people. I've worked fire relief ever since, and it has been very easy to let VRT slide because I'm tired, both mentally and physically, after dealing with people who've lost everything. So many cell phone photos of a pile of burned debris! So, after sloughing off on VRT while we were evacuated, I knew I was losing function I had just regained, and I had to make time for VRT. Every day...even when I've made over a hundred sandwiches or baked many batches of cookies, or bagged dozens of little zip-locks of washed grapes or found places to store donated perishables.

The good news is that one person decided to fight back by getting his neighbors to agree to each work to clear their own lot. He then got pros to volunteer to take down huge burnt trees, cut up metal debris, haul loads to the dump, all working together. It's been just over a month, and many people are back on their own land, living in trailers or campers or motorhomes; it's beginning to look like a neighborhood again, albeit sans any trees. The fellow who always went all out to decorate his place asked to have one limbed tall tree left standing until after the holidays; it now has a huge lighted star that can be seen from a long way away, a sign of hope and rebirth. These people are taking charge of their own fate and will be living in new permanent homes months earlier than those who haven't participated.

Out-of-order response to BarbB: I continue to believe that it's far better to see a VRT specialist for any balance problem. You might find a great PT who has taken the time to learn more about balance, but that's probably not the norm. Left untreated, a simple balance problem may progress into the more "entertaining" aspects of V&V (vomiting and vertigo). Also, not everyone has ready access to a VRT specialist. There's no one in our little town, but the town 45 minutes south has one PT who has spent a lot of time learning about balance, so, although she's not listed as a VRT specialist, she does know a great deal. I decided to cut to the chase and go to the Vestibular Center two hours north; it was one of the first places to offer true VRT and is a sort of hub for vestibular disorders. Another issue with balance is that, untreated, it often leads to back pain because you need to hold yourself stiffly in order to stay upright while standing still. During the four years I was very ill (40 years ago), I knew nothing about VRT, which was a very new idea at the time. I was doing lots of trade shows, and I had horrible back pain due to standing in a booth convincing people to buy my products! Now, although I have stenosis, arthritis, and a herniated disk, I rarely have any back pain, and that's caused by standing in one place for more than an hour, like while assembling hundreds of sandwiches! I think my back also benefits from lots of lifting: every week I drive two hours each way to pick up donated bread for our Backpacks for Kids program, and the 500 loaves weigh roughly 800 pounds, each lifted off a tray into a tote, totes lifted up into the van, then stacked in the van. Lots of lifting, and it's repeated when I unload and distribute everything.