Treatment of vertigo based on habituation. 2. Technique and results of habituation training

In this paper we have tried to explain and to substantiate the physiopathological basis of a new method of treatment for vertigo. In accordance with experimental and clinical evidence, we have based it upon the principle of habituation, which favours the development of what is well-known in Otoneurology as 'central vestibular compensation'. The habituation effect, with pattern building and rebuilding, when applied to the functional sequelase of a labyrinthine lesions, can explain how a new, central regulation of balance can be rebuilt in spite of the persistence of peripheral dysfunction. Habituation is developed by repeating a specific mode of stimulation, but only for the effect of this particular stimulation. Our treatment, based upon the principle of habituation, consists in repeating those movements (or components of movements) which provoke dizziness. Habituation will be stimulated and the information pattern elicited during these movements evolves from 'unadapted' and 'unknown' to 'normal'.