The Vestibular System is a part of the inner ear and brain that helps to control balance and eye movements. The peripheral vestibular apparatus is an organ located in the inner ear. It transmits information via the vestibulocochlear nerve to the areas of the brain that control the eye movements necessary to maintain steady gaze and coordinate the muscles that keep us upright.

The vestibular organ is a complex shape, hollow and filled with fluid called endolymph. It has 5 different sections that detect the acceleration and the velocity of head movement.

There are three semicircular canals and two otoliths, the utricle and the saccule. The semicircular canals sense angular acceleration or rotatory movement of the head. The utricle detects linear movement in a horizontal plane; and the saccule detects vertical movement of the head.

Problems with the vestibular system causes many people to experience vertigo. Vertigo is the ‘illusion of movement’ or the perception of motion of either the person or their environment. It may feel like a ‘spinning sensation’ when there is a disorder affecting one of the three semi-circular canals or a rocking, tilting or sudden drop when the otoliths are implicated.