Author(s): Jorge Said and Alfonso Izita
The diagnosis of patient disorders in modern neurootological centers has to include not only history and examination but objective and quantitative tests. In this study, we stress the importance of a short but significant test used to study vestibular function—the vestibular test of balance. The most common and widespread technique used to evaluate a patient’s equilibrium in static condition is the projection of the center of gravity with the patient in a standing position, which permits evaluation of visual, somatosensory, and vestibular contributions to stability or equilibrium. Modern physicians can improve their diagnoses by correlating patient history with clinical description and the results of exploration of vestibulospinal, retinoocular, and vestibuloocular systems of vertiginous patients.