Vestibular Physical Therapy in Spokane, WA
Dizziness is the only thing we treat. Most positional vertigo is resolved in one or two appointments, and almost everyone who walks in here has been told at least once that their scans were normal so it must be stress.
Every Kind of Dizziness Has a Name
And knowing which one you have changes the treatment completely. Most people arrive having been given none of these.
Four Things Nobody Tells You About Dizziness
If any of these land, you are in the right place and you have probably been in the wrong ones.
A Normal Scan Means Very Little
MRI and CT rule out the rare and dangerous causes, which is why they're done. They cannot see the inner ear balance organs at all. 'Your scan was normal' is not a diagnosis and it is not reassurance.
Book an assessmentThe Test Takes Two Minutes
BPPV is diagnosed by tilting your head and watching your eyes. No imaging, no bloods, no waiting list. It is the single highest-yield two minutes in the whole of dizziness medicine.
Book an assessmentRest Makes It Worse
After the acute phase, avoiding movement stops the brain from recalibrating. That's why people are still unsteady a year later. Controlled exposure to the thing that provokes it is the treatment.
Book an assessmentIt Is Not Anxiety
Chronic dizziness causes anxiety far more often than the reverse, and being told otherwise for months is why people arrive here exhausted. Both can be true at once and both are treatable.
Book an assessment
Ten Years of Doing Nothing Else
Braddock Ridge opened on West Riverside in 2016 as a single-condition clinic, which is unusual and deliberate.
Dizziness is diagnostically difficult, the differential is long, and general clinics see it rarely enough that patterns don't build. Seeing nothing else means we recognise a vestibular migraine that presents without headache, or PPPD after three normal MRI scans, in the first appointment rather than the fifth.
We have infrared video goggles for observing eye movements in darkness, a rotating chair for repositioning larger patients safely, and computerised posturography. Mostly, though, what we have is ten years of only ever looking at this.
- ✓A single-condition clinic — dizziness only
- ✓Infrared video goggles and a repositioning chair
- ✓Direct working relationships with local ENT
- ✓Most BPPV resolved in one or two visits
Ninety Minutes to a Name for It
Long, unhurried, and for most people the first appointment where someone asks the right questions.
The History, in Detail
Duration of a single episode is the most diagnostic question in the whole field, and it is the one most often skipped. Seconds means one thing, minutes another, hours another again.
Eye Movement Testing
In darkness, with infrared goggles, because the eyes reveal what the inner ear is doing and normal room light lets you suppress it. Smooth pursuit, saccades, head impulse, positional testing.
Positional Manoeuvres
Dix-Hallpike and roll testing. If it is BPPV we will usually see it, name which canal, and treat it in the same appointment. Bring someone to drive you home just in case.
Balance and Gaze Testing
Sensory organisation testing, dynamic visual acuity and gait. This tells us what your brain is relying on and what it has stopped trusting.
A Diagnosis and a Plan
In plain language, with what it is called, why it happened and how long it usually takes. Written down, and sent to your physician or ENT if you'd like.
Quiet, Dim, and Close to the Door
Everything about the space accounts for the fact that our patients find travelling here difficult.
Getting Seen, and What It Costs
Practical things that matter more than usual when travelling makes you feel worse.
No Referral Needed
Washington has direct access — you can book with us without seeing a physician first. Some plans still want a referral for reimbursement and we check that before your first visit.
In-Network & Published Cash Rates
Premera, Regence, Kaiser, Aetna, UnitedHealthcare and Medicare. Self-pay is $195 for the ninety-minute assessment and $115 for follow-ups.
Parking at the Door
Two reserved spaces directly outside, level entry, no stairs. If you can't drive, we're a hundred metres from the Riverside bus stops.
Appointment Times That Suit
If your symptoms are worse in the morning, we'll book you in the afternoon. Say so when you call and we'll work around it.
Bring Someone
Positional testing can provoke short, intense vertigo, so a driver for the first appointment is sensible. Companions are welcome in the room throughout.
We Write to Your Doctor
With your permission, a letter to your physician or ENT after the assessment. It closes the loop and often changes what happens next.
What People Ask Before Coming In
My scans were normal. Is there any point?
Yes, and this is the commonest thing we hear. Scans rule out tumours and strokes, which is why they're done. They cannot image the inner ear balance organs at all. The great majority of dizziness is diagnosed by history and by watching eye movements — neither of which shows up on an MRI.
Should I take my medication before the appointment?
Please avoid vestibular suppressants — meclizine, betahistine, prochlorperazine — for 48 hours before your assessment if you safely can. They mask the eye movements we need to observe. Everything else, take as normal, and never stop a prescription without asking your physician.
Will testing make me feel worse?
Positional testing can provoke short, intense vertigo — typically under a minute. It settles, and it is how we find out which canal is involved. Bring a driver for the first visit and don't eat a large meal beforehand.
How long until I'm better?
For BPPV, often one or two appointments. For vestibular neuritis, typically six to twelve weeks of daily exercises. For PPPD, three to six months and the trajectory is usually gradual rather than sudden. You'll get a realistic range at the assessment.
The exercises make me dizzy. Am I doing them wrong?
Almost certainly not — mild provocation is how the brain recalibrates, and an exercise that produces nothing produces no change. What we want is symptoms that rise moderately and settle within twenty minutes. If they don't, tell us and we'll adjust the dose.
Can dizziness come back?
BPPV recurs in roughly a third to a half of people within a few years, which sounds worse than it is — you'll know the symptom immediately and it's fixable again in one visit. We teach you the home manoeuvre before discharge.
Come and Get a Name For It
A ninety-minute assessment, and for most people the first appointment where the right questions get asked.
West Riverside Avenue, Spokane
Tell us what the dizziness feels like and how long it lasts. Those two answers get us most of the way there.