Mary Kostka explains how the vestibular system detects movement through fluid and hair cells in the inner ear. Loose calcium carbonate crystals can cause vertigo, and this sensory system matures first in the womb. Kids who crave spinning or avoid it entirely are responding to how their vestibular system processes motion.
Aloha, sensory heroes. This is a little bonus video. A little bit more detail about the vestibular system. We talked about this. This, the sensation is our sense of movement. It, it detects movement in all direction. It's what keeps our, our head upright when we're starting to fall. It affects our writing responses. It's the sensation when we feel dizzy. It's the, the feeling when we're moving through space. Straight, angular, rotary. It is also what makes us feel like if we're just slipping slowly out of position or vibration. And so I thought I'd explain in a little bit more detail how this amazing, amazing sensory system works and why it's so important. And honestly, it's like that and the proprioception are two of the biggest systems that are just kind of out of.
Whack for our children.
And so the vestibular system has. It's, it's part, it's a bony, it's part of a bony labyrinth. And so most people can think of the cochula, which is the part that looks like a snail, and, and that's also fluid filled with hairs. And then there'll be a couple of little bulbs, the utricle and sacule, and then a loop up and a bony loop diagonal and a bony loop horizontal. And I'll try to find a good picture of it and put it down here. But those loops are fluid filled with little hairs in them. So when you're moving, it's the fluid moving the hairs and then that's connected to nerve that's going to land in your, in your brain stem, in your limbic system and give you all that information. And so it has a very organizing effect on the brain. And so it's, it's plays a role in how we interpret outside sensations. It has a role just in how we feel. Our sense of, just our sense of well being, our sense of alertness, all of those things. Now those two bulbs I was talking about, they are kind of filled with kind of a gelatinous type material with little crystals that sit on top and they respond to really slow movement. So if you were just kind of slowly moving to the side, you would sense it because those would be moving where those loops, it's more accelerated type of movement responses. Interestingly, people that especially elderly, they get vertigo really bad. Sometimes those little crystals get loose and get into the loops and then they are triggering those little hairs, giving them.
The sensation like they're spinning around.
So there's a method that, I don't know this method, but Special method that people do to move the head in a variety of positions and then get that crystal to move through the loop and get back to where it's supposed.
To, supposed to be. So the vestibular system is the first sensory system to develop in utero.
And it's really, it, it really just.
Makes people feel completely off if they don't have that sensory system matured. So I remember one middle school kid, we were doing some spinning activities and all of a sudden he's like, I can feel my center.
And I thought, wow, how does it.
Feel to not feel your center?
Oftentimes the kids that are under responsive.
They don't feel their vestibular system. They seek out a lot of movement. They don't always, some, some need it but don't seek it out. The opposite is true. You can have a very over responsive vestibular system and be very sensitive to movement. So kids like that, they might not get on a swing at all. They might, we might start with something on the floor. We might bring it like an inch above for the next step.
They move like an inch and they're.
Like, like they're on a roller coaster ride. And honestly those kids are just, they're really, really fun because they just develop their courage, you know, and. But most of the kids, they are just, they're throwing their bodies all over the place trying to seek this input. And then we provide experiences where they can get it with more intensity and less duration. So that's just a little bit more on the vestibular system. And I hope that that is helpful to you. And if you have more questions, feel free to put them in the community and I'll be happy to answer them. Aloha.
