Vestibular System

Happy sunny Saturday. Everyone, this is Mary, owner and founder of Ohana ot. And I'm just up above my house, just above Leavenworth and man, it's a beautiful day. And yes, while I'm hiking around, what am I thinking about? The vestibular system. Of course I know my brain never stops. Anyway, I just posted a nice little video on how the vestibular system, what the structure looks like, and thought I'd just kind of explain a little bit more about the vestibular system since we're always engaging it at Ohana ot. It's a really amazing system that is the first to develop in utero. It's that important. It's so important. We just take it for granted until it's not working right. So. So it is in our inner ear. Most people are familiar with the snail looking part, the cochlea that interprets our sounds coming in and sends those messages to the brain so that we can hear things after. It's all one bony labyrinth. So you have the cochlea part and then you have three semicircular canals. And one is vertical and one is diagonal and one is horizontal. And those three canals are fluid filled along with the cochlea is fluid filled. And they have little, little hairs in them. And so as we move, as our head moves in different directions, the fluid moves those hairs which are attached to nerves that go to our brain and tell us what's happening with movement. So if we're swinging in a regular swing, we're activating the angular canal and that detects that type of motion for jumping up and down, that's stimulating the vertical one. And if we're spinning, that stimulates the horizontal one. And when we stop suddenly and change direction suddenly, we get more intense input. So that is why a lot of times we will do like short bursts of movement in different directions for kids that are under responsive and need to feel it more. In the middle of all of that, where the canals hook up and the cochlea attaches to is the vestibule. And in there you have the saccule and the utricle. And those are really interesting systems. They respond more to static movement, like slow movement. And they're basically kind of a gelatinous substance with little crystals on top. And so they respond to vibration and they respond to kind of like I'm slowly slipping out of my seat and then, oh, I need to tilt back up. Where the canals are responsive to more like really fast bursts of movement. So there the whole system is really important for us to Be able to control our bodies, be still, be able to balance whether we're moving fast or moving slowly. And then those nerves that are attached to the wires, their pathway goes directly deep into the brain to the limbic system, into the brainstem, to the reticular activating system. And those systems have a huge impact on self regulation, on how we're feeling, if we're feeling, and how we're interpreting the world around us. The limbic system has a role in interpreting those sensations from the outside world. That's why a lot of times when the vestibular system starts working properly along with the muscles and joints, the proprioceptive system, a lot of times those light sensitivities, auditory sensitivities, smell sensitivities, just kind of just go away. Because the vestibular system has a role in how we interpret the outsides sensations. It's really pretty fascinating to see how that works when that system matures, how much happier the kids feel. And in the brainstem, the reticular activating system, that all actually has a lot to do with how we sense pain as well. So a lot of times as these systems mature that those things that the kids are doing that you think, oh, that should hurt, all of a sudden they start saying, they start acting like it hurts, they start saying, ow. It's very fascinating. So most of the kids that we see, probably about 85%, have an under responsive vestibular system. So if we slowly spin them 10 times like we do in our initial eval, we test their post rotary nystagmus, which is basically how long do they feel dizzy after we stop them, their eyes will jiggle back and forth and it should be typically around 7 to 14 seconds. Some kids don't even feel it at all. Or they might like their eyes might move once or twice. Those kids are the under responsive kids. Those kids typically are seeking movement. They're on their own, they're trying to be their own therapists. And they're spinning around and running and jumping and climbing everything and jumping off of things. And they're really just basically trying to feel where their body is in space. And so in the therapy gym we do that with all of our therapy equipment. That is why it's hanging from the ceiling and on bungees, so we can stimulate up and down and angular and rotary whatever it is that they need. And we stimulate those muscles and joints, the proprioceptors, as well as they're climbing and jumping. And of course, most all of them need to build core strength as well. So of course, they're building that a lot. All of us went through the obstacle course last Monday, and, oh, man, I was feeling it for a few days. It reminded me of how many muscles they use when they're going through the. Going through the courses. So in a nutshell, that's the vestibular system. It's really foundational to our functioning. Another thought, you know, a lot of the kids that are under responsive, some of them kind of don't figure out intuitively that they need to move. And they're the kids that are really lethargic and just don't get moving and are kind of slow, and it looks like gravity is kind of sucking them to the ground. And then we have a smaller percentage of kids that are over responsive. A little teeny bit of movement makes them feel very nauseous, very uncomfortable. And those are the kids that we might have to start with the swings actually on the floor, maybe one inch off the floor, and we move it like one inch of a little bit of movement, and they're like, whoa. They feel like they're on a roller coaster. And we build them up very slowly to the point where they're feeling confident and comfortable as their system matures in that way. So it's very fascinating because some kids were doing that and some kids were kind of simulating an amusement park ride to help them feel centered in their body and calm. So very fun stuff to do. And hopefully that helps you understand a little bit more about the vestibular system. Have a great weekend. Aloha.