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There are a number of treatments and a number of manoeuvres to treat benign paroxysmal positional
vertigo. However, the Epley manoeuvre is the most well established and it is the test that
has proven to be successful in this condition. The first part of the Epley manoeuvre is essentially
performing the Dix-Hallpike manoeuvre. Once the head has been extended I always make sure that if a patient is feeling dizzy or
I see some nystagmus, I wait for this to completely resolve before continuing to perform the next
stage of the manoeuvre. The head is turned 90 degrees towards the
opposite shoulder. This means that the head now lies 45 degrees relative to the vertical
plane. You can relax your arms now. What Iíd like you to do, in your own time, is to roll
on to your left hand side and just let me support your head. Whilst the patient is turning,
the head is rotated a further 90 degrees in the same direction.
Finally, the patient is asked to sit up with her legs over the side of the couch. During
this manoeuvre I like to take control of the head so that I can position it as I would
like it to be. At the end of the manoeuvre I ask the patient to finish so that their
chin is sitting nicely on their chest.