This helps you maintain stable posture and keep your balance when you're walking or running. These organs work with other sensory systems in your body, such as your vision and your musculoskeletal sensory system, to control the position of your body at rest or in motion. When you move, your vestibular system detects mechanical forces, including gravity, that stimulate the semicircular canals and the otolithic organs. Any head movement creates a signal that tells your brain about the change in head position. Whatever the position of your head, gravity pulls on these grains, which then move the stereocilia to signal your head's position to your brain. Here, the gel contains tiny, dense grains of calcium carbonate called otoconia. The utricle and the saccule also have sensory hair cells lining the floor or wall of each organ, with stereocilia extending into an overlying gel-like layer. These organs tell your brain the position of your head with respect to gravity, such as whether you are sitting up, leaning back, or lying down, as well as any direction your head might be moving, such as side to side, up or down, forward or backward. This bending creates a nerve signal that is sent to your brain to tell it which way your head has turned.īetween the semicircular canals and the cochlea (a snail-shaped, fluid-filled structure in the inner ear) lie two otolithic organs: fluid-filled pouches called the utricle and the saccule. When you turn your head, fluid inside the semicircular canals moves, causing the cupulae to flex or billow like sails in the wind, which in turn bends the stereocilia. Each hair cell has tiny, thin extensions called stereocilia that protrude into the cupula. The cupula sits on a cluster of sensory hair cells. Inside each canal is a gelatin-like structure called the cupula, stretched like a thick sail that blocks off one end of each canal. They tell your brain when your head rotates. The semicircular canals contain three fluid-filled ducts, which form loops arranged roughly at right angles to one another. Within the labyrinth are structures known as semicircular canals. Structures of the balance system inside the inner ear The part of the ear that assists in balance is known as the vestibular system, or the labyrinth, a maze-like structure in your inner ear made of bone and soft tissue. Your sense of balance relies on a series of signals to your brain from several organs and structures in your body, specifically your eyes, ears, and the muscles and touch sensors in your legs. Unfortunately, many balance disorders start suddenly and with no obvious cause. Your risk of having balance problems increases as you get older. Problems that affect the skeletal or visual systems, such as arthritis or eye muscle imbalance, can also cause balance disorders. Low blood pressure can lead to dizziness when you stand up too quickly. What causes balance disorders?Ĭauses of balance problems include medications, ear infection, a head injury, or anything else that affects the inner ear or brain. Symptoms may come and go over short time periods or last for a long time, and can lead to fatigue and depression. Other symptoms might include nausea and vomiting diarrhea changes in heart rate and blood pressure and fear, anxiety, or panic. Lightheadedness, faintness, or a floating sensation.
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