Persistent postural perceptual dizziness

Last revised by Rohit Sharma on 26 Mar 2023

Persistent postural perceptual dizziness refers to a functional dizziness syndrome. It unifies key features of chronic subjective dizziness, phobic postural vertigo and related disorders.

It can manifest with one or more symptoms of dizziness, unsteadiness, or non-spinning vertigo that are present on most days for ≥3 months and is exacerbated by upright posture, active or passive movement, and exposure to moving or complex visual stimuli. 

The pathophysiological processes are not fully known. Some suggest that it may arise from functional changes in postural control mechanisms, multi-sensory information processing, or cortical integration of spatial orientation and threat assessment. 

Since it is considered a functional condition, it is a diagnosis of exclusion and imaging is only useful to rule out other structural conditions that could result in similar symptoms.

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