{"id":1613,"date":"2020-07-01T13:03:31","date_gmt":"2020-07-01T12:03:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/psychology\/?p=1613"},"modified":"2020-07-02T10:02:15","modified_gmt":"2020-07-02T09:02:15","slug":"vestibular-stimulation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/psychology\/2020\/07\/01\/vestibular-stimulation\/","title":{"rendered":"Vestibular stimulation"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"alert alert-primary\">\n<p>Research partners:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Dr Mohammed Sakel<\/strong>, Neuro-Rehabilitation Service, East Kent Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust<\/li>\n<li><strong>Dr Mayur Bodani<\/strong>, Neuropsychiatry Service, Kent &amp; Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust<\/li>\n<li><strong>Scion Neurostim LCC<\/strong>, USA (device manufacturer)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Parkinson&#8217;s UK<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>Buried deep inside the human skull, <strong>the vestibular organs<\/strong> tell our brains which way is up, whether we are moving, and if so which way and how fast. They also contribute to memory, decision-making, mood moderation, the sense of self and body ownership. Diseases of the vestibular organs consequently have devastating effects on a person&#8217;s ability to function, which their location can make hard to treat.<\/p>\n<p>Professor David Wilkinson and his research team have developed two <strong>non-invasive methods for stimulating the vestibular organs<\/strong> to improve their functioning.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Caloric vestibular stimulation (CVS)<\/strong> uses a headset to introduce <strong>thermal currents<\/strong> into the ear canal which gently warm and cool the vestibular organs. Patients can self-adminster this treatment at home.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS)<\/strong> involves using carbon rubber electrodes to deliver <strong>undetectable electric currents<\/strong>\u00a0 (around 0.3mA) to the bony structures behind the ears which cover the vestibular nerve.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-1682\" src=\"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/psychology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1358\/2020\/07\/A95P6876-medium-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/psychology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1358\/2020\/07\/A95P6876-medium-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/psychology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1358\/2020\/07\/A95P6876-medium.jpg 750w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The treatments have been tested on patients suffering from conditions including <strong>stroke, Parkinson&#8217;s disease, traumatic brain injury and migraine<\/strong>. In a double-blind randomised control study with 46 Parkinson&#8217;s disease patients, half self-administered two active CVS treatments at home each day for eight weeks while the other half did the same with a placebo treatment. Standardised medical assessments found <strong>a significant improvement in motor and non-motor symptoms in the treatment group,<\/strong> which was <strong>still present five weeks after the end of the trial<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The treatment has been cleared for <strong>clinical use against migraine<\/strong> and approval for use against Parkinson&#8217;s disease is likely to follow shortly. Studies for Alzheimer&#8217;s disease and ADHD are in progress and further research is planned on the treatment of insomnia, depression and anxiety.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kent.ac.uk\/psychology\/people\/253\/wilkinson-david\">More about Professor David Wilkinson<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Related coverage:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>University of Kent Magazine: <a href=\"https:\/\/issuu.com\/universityofkent\/docs\/kent_magazine_-_auwi_19-20\">A balancing act: The science of vestibular stimulation<\/a><\/li>\n<li>University of Kent News Centre: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kent.ac.uk\/news\/science\/10307\/treatment-can-offer-hope-for-relief-of-parkinsons-symptoms\">Treatment can offer hope for relief of Parkinson&#8217;s symptoms<\/a><\/li>\n<li>University of Kent News Centre: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kent.ac.uk\/news\/science\/22903\/study-shows-stimulation-of-the-ear-can-help-manage-parkinsons-symptoms\">Study shows stimulation of the ear can help manage Parkinson&#8217;s symptoms<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Global Biotech Insights: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.globalbiotechinsights.com\/articles\/17790\/stimulation-of-the-ear-can-help-manage-parkinsons-symptoms\">Stimulation of the ear can help manage Parkinson&#8217;s symptoms<\/a><\/li>\n<li>HCP Live: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mdmag.com\/medical-news\/vestibular-stimulation-parkinsons-symptoms\">Caloric vestibular stimulation helps with Parkinson symptoms<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Research partners: Dr Mohammed Sakel, Neuro-Rehabilitation Service, East Kent Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Dr Mayur Bodani, Neuropsychiatry Service, Kent &amp; Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust Scion Neurostim LCC, USA (device manufacturer) Parkinson&#8217;s UK Buried deep inside the human skull, the vestibular organs tell our brains which way is up, whether we are moving, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":1616,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553,566],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-projects","category-research-partnerships"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/psychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/psychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/psychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/psychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/610"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/psychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1613"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/psychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1613\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1711,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/psychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1613\/revisions\/1711"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/psychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/psychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/psychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/psychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}