How do you do the epley maneuver for vertigo

The Epley Maneuver (Canalith Repositioning Procedure) for BPPV

For practitioners. See also: main BPPV page.

Timothy C. Hain, MD •Page last modified: October 4, 2022

The positions of the Epley maneuver (R ear).

The Epley maneuver, named after Dr. John Epley, is both intended to move debris or "ear rocks" out of the sensitive part of the ear (posterior canal) to a less sensitive location. It is also sometimes called the "canalith repositioning maneuver" or CRP. The Epley maneuver takes about 15 minutes to complete. It has a cure rate of roughly an 80% cure rate, the first time it is applied ( Herdman et al, 1993; Helminski et al, 2010).

The Epley consists of sequential movement of the head into four positions (positions B-D), staying in each position for roughly 30 seconds. The positions of the Epley for the right ear are illustrated in figure 1. The left ear is treated similarly but starts on the left side instead. According to Kahraman et al, 2017, there is no difference in success rate between short maneuvers (i.e. 15 seconds in each position) and long maneuvers (i.e. 120 sec in each position). Nevertheless, we think it is more logical to use short duration for strong nystagmus, and longer duration for weak nystagmus or refractory cases.

The nystagmus expected from an Epley maneuver is shown here:

Here are some movies:

• Click here for a low bandwidth animation.
• Animation of Epley Maneuver. Note that this maneuver is done faster in the animation than in the clinic. Usually one allows 30 seconds between positions.

If one can observe the eyes, as shown in a recording in the figure above, there should be a burst of upbeating/torsional nystagmus for at least positions B (the conventional Dix-Hallpike position), and D (the 180 degree from DH position). There may not be much nystagmus in position C.

When performing the Epley maneuver, caution is advised should neurological symptoms (for example, weakness, numbness, visual changes other than vertigo) occur. Occasionally such symptoms are caused by compression of the vertebral arteries (Sakaguchi et al, 2003), and if one persists for a long time, a stroke could occur. If the exercises are being performed without medical supervision, we advise stopping the exercises and consulting a physician. If the exercises are being supervised, given that the diagnosis of BPPV is well established, in most cases we modify the maneuver so that the positions are attained with body movements rather than head movements.

After the Epley, you should provide your patient with the instructions below, which are aimed at reducing the chance that debris might fall back into the sensitive back part of the ear.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR PATIENTS AFTER OFFICE TREATMENTS (Epley or Semont maneuvers)

1. Wait for 10 minutes after the maneuver is performed before going home. This is to avoid "quick spins," or brief bursts of vertigo as debris repositions itself immediately after the maneuver. Don't drive yourself home.

2. Sleep semi-recumbent for the next night. This means sleep with your head halfway between being flat and upright (a 45 degree angle). This is most easily done by using a recliner chair or by using pillows arranged on a couch (see figure 3). During the day, try to keep your head vertical. You must not go to the hairdresser or dentist. No exercise which requires head movement. When men shave under their chins, they should bend their bodies forward in order to keep their head vertical. If eye drops are required, try to put them in without tilting the head back. Shampoo only under the shower. Some authors suggest that no special sleeping positions are necessary (Cohen, 2004; Massoud and Ireland, 1996). We, as do others, think that there is some value (Cakir et al, 2006)

3. For at least one week, avoid provoking head positions that might bring BPPV on again.

• Use two pillows when you sleep.
• Avoid sleeping on the "bad" side.
• Don't turn your head far up or far down.

Be careful to avoid head-extended position, in which you are lying on your back, especially with your head turned towards the affected side. This means be cautious at the beauty parlor, dentist's office, and while undergoing minor surgery. Try to stay as upright as possible. Exercises for low-back pain should be stopped for a week. No "sit-ups" should be done for at least one week and no "crawl" swimming. (Breast stroke is OK.) Also avoid far head-forward positions such as might occur in certain exercises (i.e. touching the toes). Do not start doing the Brandt-Daroff exercises immediately or 2 days after the Epley or Semont maneuver, unless specifically instructed otherwise by your health care provider.

4. At one week after treatment, put yourself in the position that usually makes you dizzy. Position yourself cautiously and under conditions in which you can't fall or hurt yourself. Let your doctor know how you did.

The recurrence rate for BPPV after these maneuvers is about 30 percent at one year, and in some instances a second treatment may be necessary.

Variant maneuvers for BPPV:

Comment: Massoud and Ireland (1996) stated that post-treatment instructions were not necessary. While we respect these authors, we still feel it best to follow the procedure recommended by Epley.

While some authors advocate use of vibration in the Epley maneuver, we have not found this useful in a study of our patients (Hain et al, 2000). Use of an antiemetic prior to the maneuver may be helpful if nausea is anticipated. Ondansetron is the one we recommend for this as there is no sedation. It is a prescription medication however. Meclizine has a similar antiemetic effect but causes drowsiness and takes longer to work.

Some authors suggest that position 'D' in the figure above is not necessary (e.g. Dr. Helen Cohen as in Cohen et al. 1999; Cohen et al. 2004 ). In our opinion, this is a mistake as mathematical modeling of BPPV suggests that position 'D' is the most important position (Squires et al, 2004). Mathematical modeling also suggests that position 'C' is probably not needed. In our opinion, position 'C' has utility as it gives patients a chance to regroup between position 'B' and 'D'.

Before we get going with this discussion -- note that there is really only one geometric way to roll rocks out of a circle, and thus all of these maneuvers are just variants on the same thing (the Epley maneuver). Also note that there are many "home treatment" maneuvers published (Furman and Hain, 2004). Many of these work pretty well.

The Semont maneuver -- this is discussed in detail elsewhere, but it is very clear that it is just another way to get the head positioned so that gravity moves otoconia out of the posterior canal. There are both clinic and home versions. We don't use it much in our clinic.

Above is from "https://www.researchgate.net/publication/6795870/", an article written by Edward Gans.

The "Gans" maneuver. This is another little used treatment maneuver, called the "Gans maneuver by it's inventor (R. Gans, Ph.D.), that resembles the Epley and Semont (Roberts, 2006). It incorporates the head orientations to gravity of "B" and "D" in the Epley figure above, and adds a "liberatory" shaking of the head in Epley position D. It leaves out position 'C' in the Epley figure above. We suspect that it has the same efficacy as the Semont, as it uses the same head orientations with respect to gravity. We don't see that it offers much advantage over the Epley or Semont, as the head positions are almost the same.

The Epley and/or Semont maneuvers as described above can be done at home (Radke et al, 1999; Furman and Hain, 2004). We often recommend the home-Epley to our patients who have a clear diagnosis. This procedure seems to be even more effective than the in-office procedure, perhaps because it is repeated every night for a week. The Foster maneuver (see next section), can also be done at home.

The method (for the left side) is performed as shown on the figure above. One stays in each of the supine (lying down) positions for 30 seconds, and in the sitting upright position (top) for 1 minute. Thus, once cycle takes 2 1/2 minutes. Typically 3 cycles are performed just prior to going to sleep. It is best to do them at night rather than in the morning or midday, as if one becomes dizzy following the exercises, then it can resolve while one is sleeping. The mirror image of this procedure is used for the right ear.

There are several problems with the "do it yourself" method. If the diagnosis of BPPV has not been confirmed, one may be attempting to treat another condition (such as a brain tumor or stroke) with positional exercises -- this is unlikely to be successful and may delay proper treatment. A second problem is that the home-Epley requires knowledge of the "bad" side. Sometimes this can be tricky to establish. Complications such as conversion to another canal (see below) can occur during the Epley maneuver, which are better handled in a doctor's office than at home. Finally, occasionally during the Epley maneuver neurological symptoms are provoked due to compression of the vertebral arteries. In our opinion, it is safer to have the first Epley performed in a doctors office where appropriate action can be taken in this eventuality.

The Foster maneuver.

Positions of the Foster maneuver (from Foster et al, 2012)

In 2012, Dr. Carol Foster and associates reported another self-treatment maneuver for posterior canal BPPV, that she subsequently popularized with online videos on Youtube. In this maneuver, using the illustrations above that she published in her 2012 article, one begins with head up, then flips to upside down, comes back up into a push-up position with the head turned laterally, and then back to sitting. Biomechanically, this is just another way to get a series of positions similar to the Epley maneuver. An analysis of the postions of this maneuver we did here, show that it is very logical.

Logic of the Foster maneuver (from her article)

The Foster manever appears to require a bit more strength and flexibility and strength than the self-Epley maneuver reported by Radke (2004). Of course, it doesn't really matter how you get your head into these positions - -as they all do the same thing.

WHAT IS THE PROOF THAT THE PC BPPV MANEUVERS WORK ?

Many patients have been reported in controlled studies. For the Epley, the median response in treated patients was 81%, compared to 37% in placebo or untreated subjects. A metanalysis published in 2010 indicated that there is very good evidence that the Epley maneuver (CRP) is effective (Helminski et al, 2010). See here for the details.

Compared to the Epley/Semont maneuvers, there is almost no proof that either the Gans or the Foster maneuvers work. However, as they are doing almost the same thing as the other maneuvers do to the head, they should.

WHAT IF THE MANEUVERS FOR BPPV DON'T WORK?

While the Epley maneuver works roughly 75% of the time on the first occasion they are used, this means the other 25% are either not "fixed", or just partially better, or perhaps even worse (about 5%). For this reason, in persons who have continued dizziness, a follow-up visit is scheduled and another nystagmus test with video-Frenzel goggles is done. It is common to have a follow-up visit once/week for roughly a month.

There are several possible reasons for continued dizziness after a physical treatment for BPPV:

• Maneuver didn't work (should keep treating for a reasonable number -- about 4 is usually reasonable-- attempts)
• Canal conversion (should change treatment to the new canal)
• Another problem in addition to BPPV (e.g. Migraine -- should change treatment)
• Canal Jam
• Other complications

The office maneuvers for BPPV, perhaps provided on 2 or 3 occasions, are effective in about 95% of patients with BPPV. If you are among the other remainder, or your symptoms are mild enough that the trouble of travelling is more than it is worth, or you live far away,  your doctor may wish you to proceed with the home Epley exercises, as described below. If a maneuver works but symptoms recur or the response is only partial (about 40% of the time according to Smouha, 1997), another trial of the maneuver might be advised. When all maneuvers have been tried, the diagnosis is clear, and symptoms are still intolerable, surgical management (posterior canal plugging) may be offered. This is exceedingly rare.

Occasional patients travel to a facility where a device is available to position the head and body to make the maneuvers more effective. See this page for more information about this option.

BPPV often recurs. About 1/3 of patients have a recurrence in the first year after treatment, and by five years, about half of all patients have a recurrence (Hain et al, 2000; Nunez et al; 2000; Sakaida et al, 2003). If BPPV recurs, in our practice we usually retreat with one of the maneuvers above. While daily use of exercises would seem sensible, we did not find it to prevent recurrence (Helminski et al, 2005; Helminski and Hain, 2008).

In some persons, the positional vertigo can be eliminated but imbalance persists. This may be related to utricular damage (Hong et al, 2008). See this page for some other ideas. In these persons it may be reasonable to undertake a course of generic vestibular rehabilitation, as they may still need to compensate for a changed utricular mass or a component of persistent vertigo caused by cupulolithiasis. Conventional vestibular rehabilitation has some efficacy, even without specific maneuvers. (Angeli, Hawley et al. 2003; Fujino et al ,1994) )

Published literature referred to above:

• Foster CA, Ponnapan A, Zaccaro K, Strong D. A comparison of two home exercises for benign positional vertigo: Half somersault versus Epley Maneuver. Audiol Neurotol Extra 2012;2:16-23
• Furman, J. M. and T. C. Hain (2004). ""Do try this at home": self-treatment of BPPV." Neurology63(1): 8-9.
• Hughes D1, Shakir A1, Goggins S2, Snow D1How many Epley manoeuvres are required to treat benign paroxysmal positional vertigo? .J Laryngol Otol. 2015 May;129(5):421-4. doi: 10.1017/S0022215115000481. Epub 2015 Mar 30.
• Kahraman SS1, Yildirim YS2, Tugrul S2, Ozturan O2.Repositioning intervals in the modified Epley's maneuver and their effect on benign paroxysmal positional vertigo treatment outcome. Acta Otolaryngol. 2017 May;137(5):490-494. doi: 10.1080/00016489.2016.1252852. Epub 2016 Nov 14
• Radtke, A., M. von Brevern, et al. (2004). "Self-treatment of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo: Semont maneuver vs Epley procedure." Neurology 63(1): 150-152.
• Roberts, R. A., et al. (2006). "Efficacy of a new treatment maneuver for posterior canal benign paroxysmal positional vertigo." J Am Acad Audiol 17(8): 598-604.

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