Updated 29 Oct 2026
At a glance
- The NHS describes vestibular rehabilitation as a series of exercises that can help restore balance and can help with dizziness, nausea and anxiety (NHS).
- The NHS advises doing the exercises only under the supervision of a specialist such as a physiotherapist or audiologist (NHS).
- The NHS notes balance problems can sometimes last for many months or even years (NHS), and the AAO-HNS BPPV guideline lists vestibular rehabilitation as an option (Bhattacharyya et al., 2017).
- A short log of what you did, how it felt, and how steady you were afterward gives your specialist what they need to adjust the plan.
- Vertigo Journey is a phone app (iPhone and Android) for tracking vertigo that keeps attacks, steadiness, ear symptoms, sleep, and medicines in one dated history.
Vestibular rehabilitation happens mostly between sessions. The specialist sets the exercises, and the real work, and the real changes, happen at home over weeks.
This guide explains what to log during vestibular rehabilitation: how to write down the plan, how to record each home session, how to score dizziness and nausea, how to track steadiness and walks, and how to bring the log to your next appointment.
Why keep a log during vestibular rehabilitation
The NHS describes vestibular rehabilitation as a series of exercises that can help restore balance and can help with dizziness, nausea and anxiety, done under the supervision of a specialist such as a physiotherapist or audiologist (NHS). Supervision usually means a session, then days or weeks of exercises at home.
Your specialist sees you for a short time. What they need to know is what happened in between: which exercises you did, how often, how dizzy they made you, and whether daily life is getting easier.
Progress in balance is also slow and uneven. A hard day can hide a good week. A dated log shows the trend that a single visit cannot. Write the entry the same day, at a similar time, so the days compare fairly.
In Vertigo Journey, the Daily check-in keeps the same fields every day, so the weeks of rehabilitation line up.
How to write down your exercise plan
After each session, write the plan in your own words: the name or a short description of each exercise, how many times, how often per day, and any limit, such as stopping if dizziness passes a certain level or doing an exercise only seated.
Add the specialist's name and the date of the next session. The NHS notes you can ask a GP to refer you to a physiotherapist, or it may be possible to refer yourself directly (NHS). Note how you were referred and when.
When the plan changes, write a new entry rather than editing the old one. The sequence of plans is part of the record, and it shows what was added or dropped and why.
In Vertigo Journey, the Daily Journal holds each version of the plan with its date.
How to log each home session
Each time you do the exercises, note the time, which ones you did, and how many repetitions. If you skipped one, write why in a word: too dizzy, no time, felt unwell.
Keep it honest. A log with gaps is more useful than one filled in later from memory, and missed days are useful information for your specialist. A one-word reason takes seconds.
Note where you did them, such as sitting on the bed, standing by a counter, or walking in a hallway, since your specialist may change the setting as you improve.
If an exercise felt very different from usual, much easier or much harder, write one line on it.
In Vertigo Journey, Weekly Goals can hold the number of home sessions you aim for, and show whether the week met it.
How to score dizziness and nausea during the exercises
The NHS notes vestibular rehabilitation can help with dizziness, nausea and anxiety (NHS). Those are the three things worth scoring around each session.
Rate dizziness and nausea from 0 to 10 during the exercises and again about an hour after. Add a word on anxiety if it rose. Use the same scale each time, so the numbers compare across weeks.
Note how long the dizziness took to settle after you stopped. Over weeks, a shorter settling time can be one of the first signs of change, even before the peak score moves.
If dizziness comes with warning signs the NHS lists for emergency care, such as double vision or loss of vision, hearing loss, trouble speaking, or weakness, numbness or tingling in an arm or leg, stop and seek urgent help (NHS).
In Vertigo Journey, the Daily Journal holds these scores with each session.
How to track steadiness, walks, and sleep
Each evening, rate steadiness from 0 to 10, separately from the exercise scores. Add any fall or near fall with where it happened.
The NHS suggests starting to go for walks outside as soon as possible, perhaps with someone to steady you until you become confident, and keeping your eyes on a fixed object when out and about (NHS). Log each walk with its length in minutes and how steady you felt.
Log sleep too. The NHS notes tiredness can make symptoms worse (NHS). A short night before a harder session is worth seeing in the record.
Add one line on daily life: stairs, shops, work, driving.
In Vertigo Journey, the Daily check-in holds steadiness and sleep, and the weekly view shows the trend.
How to bring your log to each session
Before each session, prepare a few lines: how many home sessions you did, average dizziness and nausea scores, average steadiness, walks, falls, and any exercise that felt much harder or easier. Put your main question at the top.
Bring the plan you were given and any changes you made yourself, so your specialist can see the whole picture.
After the session, write down what changed and why, in the same place as the log. If something was unclear, such as how many repetitions or what to do on a bad day, note the question and ask it next time or by the contact route your specialist gave. Keep each week's summary short enough to read aloud in a minute, so the session time goes to the exercises rather than to recalling the week.
For the wider picture, see the first weeks after a vertigo diagnosis, what to log after head-movement hours and how to get through a vertigo flare day.
In Vertigo Journey, the Doctor Report builds a dated summary for a saved doctor, and My Care Team keeps notes from each session.
How Vertigo Journey can help
A notebook can hold dates. The harder part is keeping symptoms, ears, sleep, medicines, and daily limits in the same record, so the pattern is visible when you need it.
Vertigo Journey is a personal vertigo tracker from Health Journey Labs on the App Store and Google Play. It records attacks, steadiness, ear symptoms, sleep, stress, medicines, and test dates in one dated history, and its insights show which habits and treatments come before calmer or harder weeks. Learn explains the condition in plain words, and the AI companions, such as Clara, answer questions when a new symptom is hard to read. Below is what you can use and how each part helps:
- Daily check-in — A short guided pass across symptoms, mood, nutrition, sleep, exercise, meds, and external factors, including spin intensity, duration, triggers, nausea, and balance limits, so links you would not remember on your own show up side by side.
- Daily Journal — Freer notes, including voice when screens feel unsteady, that add detail a score alone cannot show.
- Flare Tracker — Mark an episode clearly worse than usual, so you can tell a one-off spike from a repeating pattern.
- My Meds — Medicine names and timing, so you can line up a start date or dose change with episode frequency and duration.
- My Labs — Result dates for hearing tests, imaging, and other workups, compared with how you felt in the weeks before and after.
- Weekly Goals — Set one small aim, such as balance exercises, and see whether it held and whether episodes changed.
- Learn — Short education topics on vertigo themes such as positional triggers, balance, sleep, and visit preparation.
- AI companions — Clara and specialist companions already see your logged history, which helps with visit wording or questions after a new diagnosis.
- My Care Team — A profile for each clinician, plus upcoming appointments and notes for each visit, used before, during, and after appointments.
- Doctor Report — Two views: the Appointment Planning Report helps you prepare what to ask, and Generate Report, opened from a saved doctor, builds a dated summary of your recent progress for that doctor.
- My Assessments — Structured check-ins that add context about you across weeks.
- Food Tracker — Meal and drink lines when salt, alcohol, or caffeine is something you and your clinician are watching.
- Period Tracker — Cycle dates, so you can see whether episodes or headaches cluster at a certain point in the cycle.
- Weight Tracker — Weight entries when weight is part of what you and your clinician are watching.
Everything you log builds one history. Guided forms include the key questions, and you can add custom symptoms when you need your own labels. Vertigo Journey is free to download.
We make Vertigo Journey at Health Journey Labs. This guide is educational and does not replace care from your clinicians; for diagnosis and treatment decisions, work with your treating clinicians.
Sources
- NHS — Labyrinthitis and vestibular neuritis
- NHS — Vertigo
- Bhattacharyya N, et al. Clinical Practice Guideline: Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (Update). Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2017
FAQ
What is vestibular rehabilitation?
The NHS describes it as a series of exercises that can help restore balance and can help with dizziness, nausea and anxiety, done under the supervision of a specialist such as a physiotherapist or audiologist.
In Vertigo Journey, the Daily Journal holds your exercise plan with its date.
What should I log between vestibular rehabilitation sessions?
Log which exercises you did and how often, dizziness and nausea 0–10 during and after, steadiness each evening, walks, falls, and sleep.
With Vertigo Journey, the Daily check-in keeps these in one entry.
Can I do vestibular exercises without a specialist?
The NHS advises doing the exercises only under the supervision of a specialist such as a physiotherapist or audiologist.
In Vertigo Journey, My Care Team keeps notes from each session.
How do I get referred for vestibular rehabilitation?
The NHS notes you can ask a GP to refer you to a physiotherapist, or it may be possible to refer yourself directly. Outside the UK, ask your doctor.
With Vertigo Journey, the Doctor Report builds a dated summary for a saved doctor.
Should I go for walks during recovery from vertigo?
The NHS suggests starting walks outside as soon as possible, perhaps with someone to steady you until you become confident, and not driving, cycling, or using machinery if you feel dizzy.
In Vertigo Journey, Weekly Goals can hold a walking aim.
How private is a vertigo log?
A vertigo log can hold hearing changes, falls, driving limits, medicines, and work days missed, which can matter for work and insurance. Treat any digital log as private, and on paper, keep the notebook somewhere only you control and share it only when you choose.
The app's own security screen lists Vertigo Journey as HIPAA-ready and GDPR compliant, with AES-256 encryption for your data. You choose what to share with partners or clinicians.