When the room is spinning, it’s difficult to focus on your family or your work, your responsibilities or your passions. Dizzy spells, often called vertigo, can suddenly disrupt your life for various reasons and at different ages. Let’s explore the common symptoms and causes, as we show how chiropractic care, and a specific technique, can relieve vertigo at the source.
What is Vertigo?
Vertigo is the sensation that either the world is spinning or that you are. This can make normal actions and daily tasks difficult or dangerous. It can be accompanied by other symptoms such as nausea, migraines or headaches, difficulty walking, hearing problems and more.
Common Causes
When a patient comes into Dopps Chiropractic NE with vertigo, their health history and answers to a few questions help us discern what could be the source. We want to know if it is brought on with position changes, if it improves with eating, and if you’ve had any incidents or accidents.
In most cases, vertigo happens when the tiny crystals in the semicircular canal of the inner ear are displaced and loose. The ear crystals are moving, when the eyes say that you are upright and holding still. The brain gets an improper signal, because the ear and eyes are out of sync and vertigo is the result.
Other commonly listed reasons for vertigo:
- Head or neck trauma
- Stress
- Allergies
- Hereditary factors
- Hormone changes in pregnancy
- Other conditions, such as diabetes or MS
How to Get Relief With Chiropractic
The brain stem controls all of the body’s vital functions from heart rate and respiration, to sensory information. It’s also where the nausea center is located. The brain stem is surrounded by the first cervical vertebra, the atlas, which also supports the skull.
When the atlas is misaligned or subluxated, it puts pressure on the brain stem. That reduces its ability to function well. This disrupts the input the brain receives from the body, decreasing blood flow to the cerebellum and can interfere with information to and from the visual cortex. Vertigo could be just one symptom of a subluxated atlas.
Our chiropractic adjustment is specific and scientific. We assess and adjust the atlas, which improves more than just the dizziness. With the help of x-rays and years of experience at our fingertips, we focus on the exact subluxation that is blocking the nervous system’s ability to communicate clearly with the brain and realign those bones.
Specifically for vertigo relief, we also use the Hallpike Test and Epley Maneuver.
This involves gently lowering the patient’s head and supporting it off the end of the adjusting table. We slowly move the patient’s head through different positions, and then hold the head still, while the patient turns on their side.
The Epley Maneuver gently repositions the inner ear crystals and gets them settled back in place. While performing it, we observe any rapid eye movement (nystagmus) as the eye searches for the horizon, along with the onset of dizziness, to determine when the crystals have been repositioned.
This is a widely used, very effective technique also used by Ear, Nose and Throat doctors and other medical doctors, physical therapists and others. Combined with a specific chiropractic adjustment of the atlas, we’ve had a high success rate of relieving vertigo on the first application of the Epley Maneuver.
Here’s the testimonial of a pregnant mother who had been suffering from vertigo for several days. Dr. Ryan successfully performed the Epley Maneuver and she couldn’t have been happier.
Tips and Recommendations for Vertigo
- Limit the times you bend over; try squatting.
- Slow down your movements, especially of your neck and head.
- Wedge your mattress so you are semi-recumbent and try to sleep on your back.
- Reduce your stress; try quiet times of prayer or meditation.
We hope that understanding what causes vertigo and how to relieve it helps you or a loved one. Share this article and bookmark it for future reference.
How You Can Get Adjusted
If you are a patient of Dopps Chiropractic NE, but haven’t been adjusted in a while, click here to make an appointment. Drs. Ryan and Denise Dopps can’t wait to catch up with you!
Become a patient and unlock your body’s potential! We have a New Patient Special Offer – $30 for your initial exam, x-rays and adjustment at our NE Wichita office. Call 316-636-5550 and tell our office you’d like $30 New Patient offer from the blog. Or email us questions at doppsne@att.net #NewPatient30
References:
