Vertigo, dizziness and sport

Aims - To point out that dizziness can be generated by sport practice, that unrecognized pathologies can provoke dizziness in sportsmen and that dizziness could be prevented by physical activities, Current knowledge - Balance disorders can be related to pathology of one or more afferences (vestibular, visual, somesthetic), a conflict in these afferences usage (motion sickness, Coriolis forces), central integration (vigilance-deficit, drugs, etc.) or motor effector dysfunction (muscular trauma, etc.). Points of views and plans - Sport practice can modify sensory-motor strategies by reinforcing the preferential usage of a given type of information. In elderly, physical activities, by maintaining or increasing the weight of, proprioception, diminish dependency to the visual afferent (C) 2001 Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS.