Feeling “Woozy”? Chiropractic can help!

BY DR. VIKAS PURI

We all get a little dizzy sometimes, whether it’s because we stood up too fast or we looked at an optical illusion for too long. The feeling of unsteadiness can be troubling, but these feelings are very insignificant compared to the feelings of vertigo.

Vertigo is characterized by dizziness combined with a feeling of movement or a spinning sensation, even when you are standing perfectly still. Vertigo can be absolutely debilitating in everyday life because it can cause you to feel sick, make it difficult to walk, and even interrupt your vision and hearing.

There are a few different ways vertigo can begin, most of them dealing with the way your inner ear and brain communicate. Because of the neurological connection, chiropractic care may be the ideal course of treatment to manage your dizziness. Chiropractors are trained to neurologically examine you and determine the cause of your dizziness. They are able to differentiate if the problem is coming from your spine, brain, muscular system, inner ear or other causative factor. They then use specific exercises and spinal adjustments to help patients overcome their vertigo.

Chiropractic adjustments are most effective at alleviating a specific type of vertigo called cervicogenic vertigo. This type of vertigo is caused by joints moving improperly in the cervical spine, which results in incorrect information about movement and body position being sent to the brain. This misinformation may cause you to feel dizzy. Chiropractic adjustments realign the joints and vertebrae in the cervical spine, correcting the nervous pathways and allowing for clearer communications.

Vertigo is a common symptom in patients who have endured trauma to the neck or head; often, this is due to a disturbance in the nerve pathways exiting the spinal column.  This is also very commonly seen in seniors. Seniors tend to have osteoarthritis in their spinal joints that can impinge on spinal nerves and/or have arthritis of the bones in the inner ear. This can result in improper balance and is a leading cause of falls in seniors.  In fact, the leading cause of hospitalization in seniors is falls.  Effective fall prevention programs in seniors include regular chiropractic care.

Another common type of vertigo, benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV), is due to the movement of crystals around the inner ear. These crystals are from your otolith organs and make you sensitive to gravity. They can shift out of the organ and into other parts of the vestibular labyrinth, altering your center of balance and briefly making you feel dizzy.

To help rectify BPPV, your chiropractor may prescribe an exercise known as the Epley maneuver, which moves your head into different positions to reposition the crystals inside the inner ear.

Light headedness and dizziness are often the result of lower blood pressure or lack of hydration. Staying hydrated is very important. A simple rule of thumb is to take your body weight (in pounds) and divide it by 2 to determine the number of ounces of water you require a day. On top of that, you would compensate every cup of caffeine you drink with 2 cups of water. One way to improve your blood pressure and prevent circulation from pooling in your legs is to wear compression stockings.  Many people, including seniors and diabetics have seen an improvement in their symptoms by wearing compression stockings.

Concussions have been on the rise in athletes. Even minor head or neck trauma can shake the brain in the skull, causing the brain to get “bruised”. This is known as a concussion. Common symptoms include headache and dizziness. Chiropractors work with athletes at every competitive level and ensure they are regularly assessed, improving their coordination, strength and balance. When an injury such as concussion occurs, chiropractors are specially trained to diagnose and treat concussions effectively through a combination of chiropractic adjustments and brain-based exercises. This has given rise to a sub-specialty in chiropractic known as functional neurology.

If you are experiencing dizziness of any kind, visit a chiropractor today. Get properly diagnosed and treated so that you can get back to healthy lifestyle as soon as possible.  Chiropractic provides solutions.