Let's Talk Vestibular: The Complete Recorded Series

Overview

Dizziness is one of the most diagnostically demanding presentations in clinical practice. Symptoms overlap, patients struggle to describe what they're feeling, and standard protocols often stop short of the full picture — leaving practitioners uncertain whether to treat, monitor, or refer.

Let's Talk Vestibular brings together four clinicians from different disciplines, vestibular physiotherapy, massage therapy, concussion care, and pain science, to build a more complete approach to the dizzy patient. Originally delivered as a live series, all five sessions are now available on demand.

The series moves deliberately: from rapid differential reasoning in the first five minutes of assessment, through the bedside exam that separates dangerous central presentations from peripheral ones, into two commonly under-recognized contributors (the TMJ and central sensitization), and closing with an integrative panel discussion.

Each session stands alone. Taken together, they build a framework for holding diagnostic complexity, and knowing when to look beyond the inner ear.

Approximately 5 hours 15 minutes of material · Up to 5 CEUs · Free for Embodia Members

Included Sessions

The Dizzy Brain Approach: A Simple Framework for Confident Dizziness Differentials with Sonia Vovan, PT, BHSc, MScPT, PhD (Candidate)
A step-by-step framework for reaching a working differential within the first five minutes of assessment. Covers strategic questioning, symptom pattern recognition, and a targeted vestibular screen — with case scenarios drawn from everyday caseloads. Includes the patient education handout 'Understanding Dizziness: A Patient Guide'.
HINTS+ Exam Demystified: Differentiating Central vs. Peripheral Causes of Acute Dizziness with Kregg Ochitwa, BScPT, CWCE, CredMDT
A practical breakdown of the four-part HINTS+ exam for patients presenting with acute vestibular syndrome. Covers each component, head impulse, nystagmus, test of skew, and hearing, with clinical video examples, interpretation of inconclusive findings, and the red flags that mandate urgent referral regardless of exam result.
What's the Jaw Got to Do With It? Understanding, Assessing, Treating, and Managing TMJ-Related Dizziness with Jules Poulin, RMT
A four-pillar framework for a contributor most dizziness protocols never reach. Covers the trigeminal-vestibular-cervical relationships that explain why patients with bruxism and jaw parafunction present with unexplained "floaty" disequilibrium, how to use jaw and cervical movement to reproduce or modulate symptoms diagnostically, and where treatment sits within physiotherapy and massage therapy scope.
The Biopsychosocial Approach to Dizziness with Carolyn Vandyken, BHSc (PT), CredMDT, CCMA
Central sensitization, nociplastic pain, and Persistent Postural-Perceptual Dizziness (PPPD), and why patients with sensitized nervous systems respond poorly to peripheral vestibular technique alone. Includes concrete screening tools (CSI A and B, OSPRO-YF, Fremantle Awareness Questionnaire, ISI) and a treatment framework built on the five pillars of health.
Let's Talk Vestibular: Closing Fireside Chat with Sonia Vovan, Kregg Ochitwa, Jules Poulin, and Carolyn Vandyken
All four instructors in conversation: real questions, genuine disagreements, and the clinical reasoning that protocols can't fully capture. A synthesis of the series themes, with candid discussion of diagnostic complexity, interdisciplinary referral, and the limits of a purely biomedical model.

Why Take the Full Series

A deliberate progression. Rapid decision-making, then bedside safety screening, then two under-taught contributors, then integration.
Genuinely interdisciplinary. Physiotherapy, massage therapy, concussion care, and pain science — not four variations on the same lens.
Immediately applicable. Screening frameworks, assessment sequences, and referral criteria you can use in your next dizzy patient.
CEUs. Each session is CEU approved for eligible participants.

Who This Is For

Physiotherapists and physical therapist assistants
Registered massage therapists
Occupational therapists
Chiropractors and manual therapists
Athletic therapists and sports medicine clinicians
Any practitioner assessing or treating dizziness and balance presentations

Advanced vestibular training is not a prerequisite. Practitioners newer to vestibular care will find the reasoning frameworks accessible; experienced vestibular clinicians will find value in the biopsychosocial and TMJ material, which is rarely covered at this depth.

Continuing Education Units (CEUs)

Each session in this series is CEU approved for eligible participants. Embodia is an approved provider of continuing education for Physical Therapists and Physical Therapist Assistants in multiple jurisdictions, including Illinois, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Florida, and California. Courses approved by these state boards are likely accepted for licensure credit in many additional states; practitioners are encouraged to confirm with their state licensing board.

Pricing

This series is free for Embodia Members.

Related Resources on Embodia

Practitioners working through this series may also find these useful:

Resource Package: Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV) with Cheryl Wylie. All BPPV test and treatment videos for your exercise library, a practitioner assessment and treatment flow chart, and a patient education handout. Requires a Tier 2 or 3 Membership to prescribe.
Resource Package: Vertigo and Concussion with Annie Howard. Patient-facing content on the concussion–BPPV connection, including Dix-Hallpike, supine roll test, modified Epley, and horizontal hybrid maneuvers. Requires a Tier 2 or 3 Membership to share.
Vestibular exercise library: Tier 2 and 3 Members can prescribe a full library of vestibular home exercises, including gaze stabilization, saccades, eye tracking, Romberg and tandem stance progressions, and walking drills with head turns and nods.