If you’ve ever felt the sensation of spinning or that the world is spinning around you, you’ve experienced what is sometimes called vertigo. It can be disabling and discouraging, making it difficult or impossible to function in normal life. Driving, walking, cooking, reading, working at the computer and other visual activities are all problematic for vertigo sufferers. People who experience vertigo may seek different methods of treatment depending on the cause, and many of them seek chiropractic care.
What is Vertigo?
It is a generic term used to describe a state of dizziness. People suffering from it may describe the room around them as spinning, swaying or moving. Vertigo can happen unexpectedly and seemingly unconnected to illnesses and events. Depending on the cause, it can last hours, days or longer.
Vertigo is not itself an illness, but rather, a symptom of a condition. Different types of vertigo can have different sources. Sometimes it is associated with problems of the inner ear, which controls the body’s sense of balance and coordination. Other times, it is associated with misalignment of the vertebrae in the neck.
The most important and common reason for vertigo is BPPV, and once it has been deferentially diagnosed it can be treated very easily. BPPV is caused by the dislodging of a calcium carbonate crystal in the inner ear. That crystal then moves to an acceleration centers located in the inner ears called semicircular canals. This gives the brain the sensation that they are accelerating even though they are still. Treatment is to move that crystal out of the semicircular canals.
Chiropractic treatment
Chiropractors can treat vertigo with a variety of different techniques, depending on the cause. Some chiropractic techniques can actually treat it at its source and stop the condition all together. Other techniques help patients regain balance and coordination while the condition is taken care of.
One of the most commonly used of the procedures is called the Epley Maneuver. This treatment involves the patient lying on his or her back on a bed or table. The patient’s head should be hanging slightly over the edge and tilted 45 degrees toward the problem ear. The physician then moves the patient’s head into four different positions for a couple of minutes each until it is tilted 90 degrees toward the other ear. This procedure has been found to cure vertigo from BPPV approximately 90% of the time.
Vertigo due to inner ear infections will usually clear up once the infection is gone. Medicines are sometimes prescribed to help reduce symptoms of vertigo that are related to migraines or Ménière’s disease.
Balanced Body Acupuncture & Chiropractic
We use different Chiropractic adjusting techniques to correct any structural shifts in your entire spine to help restore your entire structure back to normal. These techniques range from gentle low force manual adjustments to extremely low force applications using hand held instruments such as an Activator. Dr. Baker uses the activator technique often and mostly on children and older population. It works excellent for neck and ear adjustments as well.
We may also make lifestyle recommendations to support your optimal health. By staying hydrated, avoiding caffeine and alcohol, reducing sugar and salt intake, and eating healthy foods, you can prevent changes to the inner ear fluid that can exacerbate balance issues.
Our best recommendation is to be seen for a full examination by a chiropractic physician. We offer a complimentary consultation at Balanced Body Acupuncture & Chiropractic in Omaha, NE so we can sit down and go through your health history and clarify what the issue is and that we can actually help you with what’s going on.
The focus of our practice is to improve patient quality of life while providing gentle healing to patients of all ages. Contact us today!