Get your free quick guide here! >> Zuma Maneuver Quick Guide

Hey, have you tried the Zuma?

I did, and it worked! Here's what happened...

During positional testing with a patient, I found apogeotropic nystagmus in the Roll Test -- left side more intense than the right. Because of the position I had the patient in from the Roll Test, I chose to move into the Log Roll. (I'm a creature of habit). The maneuver was tricky due to limited cervical ROM and an upper thigh urinary bag. He was also quite nauseated from the nystagmus.

He returned a week later, and I decided to try the Zuma maneuver. For those of you who haven't heard of the Zuma maneuver (yet), it was developed to address limitations associated with the Gufoni maneuver (nose up) for apogeotropic horizontal canal (HC) BPPV. These limitations include low resolution with one maneuver, transitioning from the anterior arm to the posterior arm (requiring the original Gufoni (nose down) maneuver, and the theory that it doesn’t address cupulolithiasis on the utricular side (Zuma et al., 2020). Due to the success of the Zuma, slight modifications were made to treat geotropic HC BPPV, which is referred to as the Modified Zuma.

I couldn't remember which side to lie the patient down on initially, so I used the step-by-step instructions in 360NeuroGO as a quick reference, and it worked on the 1st maneuver!

I was talking with a colleague who has also had good success with the Zuma maneuver, so we thought we would share both the Zuma and the Modified Zuma with you. Check out the free quick guide (link below) - it has written and video instructions.

Get your free quick guide here! >> Zuma Maneuver Quick Guide

Keep in mind, the explanation and demo videos have been slightly modified due to considerations with those that may have limited cervical ROM. Also, we kept the recommended 3-minute holds as described by Dr. Zuma although we suspect the person doesn’t need to be held in the positions this long.

BTW… if you want to access more content like this at your fingertips, join 360NeuroGO! The Lifetime offer ends 1/31 at 11:59pm CST >> Offer extended for today only!

Blog author: Bridgett Wallace, PT, DPT

360 Neuro Health, Co-Founder & Director of Clinical Education