By JoNel Aleccia
MSNBC.com Health writer

The next time the world starts spinning, Larry Janisch will know exactly how to make it stop.

But two months ago, when the 50-year-old Phoenix man woke up one Saturday reeling from vertigo, he had no idea what to do.

“I felt like I was drunk,” he said. “I couldn’t stand up. I kept falling over.”

Fortunately for Janisch, he works at a hospital where a vestibular therapist, a specialist in inner ear disorders, is almost always available.

Within 10 minutes of walking into the lab at Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center, Janisch was better, thanks to a simple technique that neurology experts have verified as the best way to treat benign paroxysmal positional vertigo — BPPV — a common cause of severe dizziness.

A series of gentle head and neck movements known as the canalith repositioning procedure is the fastest, easiest way to cure BPPV, according to a new guideline developed by the American Academy of Neurology.

About 3 million new patients a year in the United States are diagnosed with the problem characterized by dizziness, lightheadedness, imbalance and nausea that can last for days — or even months. Traditional treatments have ranged widely, from drastic measures such as sedatives to nerve surgery to nothing at all.

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