Specialist balance equipment comes to Sheffield
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Innovative equipment capable of diagnosing children with balance problems has been introduced at The Children’s Hospital, Sheffield, thanks to a £21,000 donation from Westfield Health.
The ‘Rotational Vestibular Chair’ is a device that allows clinicians to accurately diagnose balance disorders in children, by rotating the child whilst measuring their eye movements.
Samantha Lear, Lead Clinical Scientist in the Hearing and Speech department at The Children’s Hospital, said: “Children can experience dizziness for many reasons. One possibility is that the vestibular (balance) organs of the inner ear aren’t working properly.
“These organs provide the brain with information about changes in head movements - so if they’re not functioning properly, dizziness, vertigo, imbalance, spatial disorientation and other symptoms can occur.
“The vestibular chair helps us to assess the function of the child’s balance system and establish the cause of the problem, so that we can provide the child with a tailor-made programme of treatment.”
The vestibular chair works in conjunction with other specialist equipment, donated to the hospital by The Children’s Hospital Charity.
Samantha said: “The Children’s Hospital Charity helped us to purchase a caloric irrigator and video-nystagmography (VNG) equipment.
“Along with the vestibular chair, this equipment allows us to offer the only dedicated paediatric vestibular service in the North of England. We can now test the balance function of children complaining of dizziness and also, many of those with hearing impairments who require vestibular tests as part of diagnosing the possible cause of their hearing loss.
“By diagnosing patient’s accurately, we can make sure that the child gets the right advice and exercises for their needs. Westfield’s donation is invaluable to doing this and we are very grateful for all their help.”
Westfield Chairman Graham Moore said: “This is a wonderful development for children and young people across the North of England and we are very proud to have played a part in it.”
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