What’s the Deal with Vertigo?

As much as 35 percent of American adults over the age of 40 have experienced a vestibular disorder—and the biggest offender? Vertigo. For those who’ve experienced it, or currently are experiencing it, vertigo can greatly impact daily life, making a sufferer sick, tired and unable to go through their day. How do you deal with it? How can you get your life back? Let’s take a look. 
 

What is Vertigo?

Those experiencing vertigo feel a sensation of being off balance, like they’re spinning or being pulled in one direction. It can cause nausea, headache, vomiting, sweating and a ringing in the ears or abnormal eye movement. For some, vertigo seems to simply go away with time. For others, it is a reoccurring problem that reappears with little warning and makes everyday tasks difficult.

Why Does it Happen?

A commonly cited cause of vertigo is inner ear issues—often due to buildup or infection—which can compromise the body’s ability to find balance. In our experience, patients who suffer from vertigo are often found to have subluxations, misalignments, in the C1 region at the base of the skull. The C1 affects blood supply, the pituitary gland, scalp, bones of the face, brain, nervous system, and unsurprisingly, middle and inner ear.
This misalignment can interfere with sensory information to the cerebellum part of the brain, which coordinates voluntary movements like balance, posture and coordination—it can also cause dizziness, the commonly seen symptom of vertigo. This subluxation could be the result of a number of things, from prior head/neck trauma to minor traumas such as improper posture or poor sleep positioning.

How Can You Get Help?

Our best recommendation is to be seen for a full evaluation by a chiropractic physician, who will likely prescribe regular chiropractic adjustments to remove subluxations from the spine. Studies show that spinal manipulation can have many positive effects on vertigo symptoms—improved balance, reduction in dizziness and for some, even complete remission. Additionally, by addressing the subluxation in the C1 region of the spine, potential disruptions between the brain and spinal nerves are eliminated, allowing the body to heal as it was meant to.