Posts

GyroStim 101: Vestibular Stimulation

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GyroStim has been around since 2010, providing both neurologic treatment and training to people from all walks of life for countless different reasons. Today, fifteen years later, GyroStim is used in eight countries around the world in clinics, research labs, sports facilities, and military installations. Different things to different people Even with this longevity, answering the simple question: "What is GyroStim?" is far from simple. Many people recognize GyroStim as the spinning chair Sidney Crosby used when he had a concussion, others know GyroStim as the device a father invented for his daughter with cerebral palsy. GyroStim is also known as an athletic performance training tool, therapy for TBI, great for regulating autism and ADHD, helpful in Parkinson's and MS, effective for motion desentitization and more, and more, depending on context. The common denominator: vestibular stimulation All of these definitions are true, However, none of them address the essenti...

GyroStim for Motion Sickness (Yeah, you read that right!)

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Many of the videos featuring GyroStim on social media show someone wildly spinning then changing directions quickly, whirling upside down, and going crazy fast. Why? Because those videos are exciting to watch. What you don't see are therapy sessions that start low and slow and gradually increase in intensity, but not before the person in the chair is ready. As you might imagine, when someone posts a video of GyroStim on social media, people who are unfamiliar with the technology post all manner of creative comments about motion sickness…and its associated symptoms…in colorful detail. (Ironically, GyroStim is frequently used to treat motion sickness). We understand this reaction, however, we have also grown immune to it. This begs the question, ‘Do people get sick in the GyroStim?’ The answer is, NO. And here's why: Intensity progression is driven by incremental advancement based on both subjective and objective data---a fancy way of saying: no one goes faster, or, upside down u...

Mild Concussion (mTBI) is Often Anything But

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Athletes: Get Back in the Game and Stay On Top

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GyroStim was invented for clinic use, however, in the course of its development, many athletes discovered that when addressing vestibular and balance issues, their overall sports performance improved as well. As a result, many athletes transitioned from healthcare to training and soon the word spread. The benefits of athletic training with GyroStim are many. Athletes report gains in:     Visit our GyroStim Athletes page to see who has used GyroStim and what professional, Olympic and elite athletes are saying about the experience.    #reactiontime #reflexes #situationalawareness #balance #coordination #concussionrecovery       

Weekly Positive Spin Post

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  Kicking off weekly points to ponder to help you put a positive spin on your outlook. Inspired by the many GyroStim patients who persevere no matter what.

Balance 101

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Quality of life for millions of individuals is impacted daily by balance and vestibular impairment, but do you truly understand the complexity of balance and the role balance plays in how you interact with the world around you?       Most people think of dizziness or unsteadiness when they think of balance, and certainly there's a connection. But did you know that your balance is reliant upon the coordination of sensory input from your eyes, muscles, and joints? To navigate within your environment you must perceive what is happening, process what you perceive and formulate a response , then you must react accordingly. Is there a car coming down the street? Is there an object in your path? Can you find the words to call the toddler back from the edge of the pool fast enough? Sensory input that is not processed effectively is often the cause of acute or chronic balance issues because it prevents you from forming and executing an appropriate output reaction such as talking, ...

It's Not Counter-intuitive; It's Science

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  As you might imagine, we get a lot of comments from people who think that rotation is counter-intuitive to addressing a balance or dizziness problem. However, the opposite is actually true. VEDA (Vestibular Disorders Association) problems a helpful description of just what is happening when you engage in balance training exercises: How do balance retraining exercises speed recovery? "Recovering from dizziness is exactly the same as getting your sea legs. At first being at sea makes people unsteady and sick, but if you stay at sea then gradually the brain learns to cope with the new balance, signals from the eyes, body and balance organs, and the sickness disappears. In the same way, the brain can gradually overcome dizziness and imbalance due to a change in the way the balance system is working, following injury or illness. But your system can only learn to cope with the new balance signals if you practice the activities which cause dizziness. Balance retraining exercises ...