Auntie Zhang recently encountered a disturbing incident, so that the whole family followed together very nervous. Usually very casual movements, such as lying down to rest, or turn your head for a moment, Auntie Zhang will suddenly feel intense vertigo, straight feel the sky spinning in front of you, up and down, if not hastily squat down or grabbed the things around, several times almost stumbled and fell. At the same time, Auntie Zhang also felt a burst of nausea, vomiting, white face. After about a few seconds or a dozen seconds, together with back to normal, good hands and feet, without any change. However, at some point between inadvertent physical activity, the kind of intense vertigo will suddenly come again. For several days, Auntie Zhang was so tormented that she could not sleep or eat, and dared to sit stiffly on the sofa, not even dare to lie down to sleep, and became very agitated. Finally, accompanied by family members to the hospital to see a doctor. At the registration desk, Auntie Zhang was told by the nurse that in addition to neurology, she also needed to see an otolaryngologist. Auntie Zhang was very puzzled, obviously her five senses did not have problems, how do you need to see the otolaryngology department? As expected, the internal medicine examination did not reveal any cardiovascular or cerebrovascular problems, so Auntie Zhang was referred to the otolaryngology department for further consultation. In the otolaryngology office, the doctor took a careful history and told Auntie Zhang that she might be suffering from a disease called benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, or BPPV, or “otolithiasis” for short. Auntie Zhang was even more surprised, how could a stone grow inside her ear? Even if there were stones in her ears, how could they cause vertigo? Looking at the confused Auntie Zhang, the doctor explained. It turns out that the human ear can be divided into the outer ear, middle ear and inner ear. The “ear” that we usually see is actually just the auricle, which is part of the outer ear, and in the deep part of the ear canal, there are the middle and inner ears. The inner ear, in particular, is a very delicate and complex structure in which the cochlea has the function of sound perception as we know it, while the vestibule and the semicircular canal have the function of controlling the body’s balance. In each inner ear, there are three canal-like structures at right angles to each other, called semicircular canals, which are filled with liquid lymphatic fluid. When the head is turned, lying down, running, etc., head movements are generated, and the lymphatic fluid follows the flow. Like the impeller of a generator, the flowing lymphatic fluid drives the cilia of the vestibular hair cells to oscillate, and the hair cells convert the motion signals into electrical signals to the brain, which makes motion sensations accordingly. When the semicircular canal itself is diseased, the vestibular hair cells produce abnormal electrical signals to the brain, which induce the brain to make motion sensations that do not correspond to reality, that is, the phenomenon of vertigo. Under normal conditions, the lymphatic fluid in the semicircular canal is homogeneous and fluid. In the case of protein degeneration, small granules are formed in the lymphatic fluid and float in the lymphatic fluid, which are called “otoliths” and move with the flow of the lymphatic fluid. Due to the principle of inert motion in physics, the movement of otoliths lags behind the flow of lymphatic fluid and produces more violent collisions with the cilia of hair cells, thus stimulating a large number of hair cells to discharge into the brain in a short period of time, resulting in a violent abnormal motion sensation, i.e., vertigo. Since this stimulation is induced by a change in the position of the head, the condition is also known as benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, abbreviated as BPPV, or otolithosis. Otoliths are a common cause of vertigo and, fortunately, can mostly be effectively treated after a clear diagnosis. After listening to the doctor’s explanation, Auntie Zhang gradually understood a little and her nervousness gradually began to relax. The doctor then arranged an otologic physical examination and ancillary tests for Auntie Zhang to rule out the possibility of some other diseases, and then performed a varus oculomotor test for Auntie Zhang. By adjusting Zhang’s head position in a systematic manner, the doctor identified the specific head position that triggered the vertigo and accordingly clarified the location of the semicircular canal where the otolith appeared. Immediately afterwards, the otolith was repositioned on the otolith treatment equipment, and by adjusting the head position and the principle of gravity, the otolith was discharged along the lumen of the canal to prevent it from hitting the hair cells again. After less than half an hour of manual resetting treatment, when the doctor asked Auntie Zhang to turn her head to try, she first turned her head carefully and the panic-inducing vertigo did not appear, and Auntie Zhang boldly moved her head from side to side, and still no vertigo appeared. Without medicine or injection, the disease that had been bothering Auntie Zhang for several days was actually cured. Auntie Zhang couldn’t help but say happily, “It’s amazing, thank you doctor, I finally dare to walk freely again!”