Equilibrioception
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Equilibrioception or sense of balance is one of the physiological senses. It helps prevent humans and animals from falling over when walking or standing still.
In humans
In humans, equilibrioception is mainly sensed by the detection of acceleration, which occurs in the vestibular system. Other senses play roles as well, e.g. the visual system and proprioception. For instance, it is harder to stand on one foot with eyes closed than with eyes open.
Vestibular system
In the vestibular system, equilibrioception is determined by the level of fluid properly called endolymph in the labyrinth - a complex set of tubing in the inner ear.
Disfunction
When the sense of balance is interrupted it causes dizziness, disorientation and nausea. Balance can be upset by Meniere's disease, an inner ear infection, by a bad common cold affecting the head or a number of other medical conditions. It can also be temporarily disturbed by rapid and vigorous movement, for example riding on a merry-go-round. See also vertigo.
Most astronauts find that their sense of balance is impaired when in orbit, because they are in a constant state of free-fall while their rockets are off. This causes a form of motion sickness called space sickness.
In animals
Some animals have better equilibrioception than humans, for example allowing a cat (as a quadruped using its inner ear and tail) to walk on a thin fence. [1]
Equilibrioception in many marine animals is done with an entirely different organ, the statocyst, which detects the position of tiny calcareous stones to determine which way is "up".
Training devices
Acknowledgement and Attribution Regarding Sources of Content
Some of the initial content on this page may be incorporated in part from copyleft sources in the public domain including wikis such as Wikipedia and AskDrWiki. Drug information for patients came from the The National Library of Medicine. Infectious disease information may have come from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Differential Diagnoses are drawn from clinicians as well as an amalgamation of 3 sources: 1.The Disease Database; 2. Kahan, Scott, Smith, Ellen G. In A Page: Signs and Symptoms. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing, 2004:3; 3. Sailer, Christian, Wasner, Susanne. Differential Diagnosis Pocket. Hermosa Beach, CA: Borm Bruckmeir Publishing LLC, 2002:7 .
