Categories Vertigo

Upper Cervical Chiropractic Treatment of Vertigo

Vertigo

The human body is the most complex organic piece of machinery on the planet. Human beings are incredibly designed by nature to be self-complimentary. Each of the innate systems we are born with is uniquely interconnected with multiple other systems within the same skeletal housing. 

The system of Equilibrium

In layman’s terms, equilibrium simply means maintaining balance. The skeletal, muscular, and nervous systems all work together on our special sense of equilibrium, dubbed ‘Proprioception’, to maintain the upright posture we are so accustomed to. It’s always working too, from getting up in the morning, to take every single step, to even moving any of our limbs, this complex system of position sensing and balance is quintessential to everyday life. 

Any problem within this system manifests as the common complaint of dizziness, or more aptly named, Vertigo. 

Vertigo, or dizziness, is the condition where the body cannot maintain balance and properly judge where its component limbs and body parts are in space. Vertigo manifests as the ‘illusion’ of movement, meaning that you feel like you are spinning and moving when in fact you are stationary. 

Vertigo is often accompanied by nausea and vomiting as the brain tries to process this illusionary movement.

So why the spinning?

Vertigo is most often associated with problems in the inner ear where the main apparatus of equilibrium sensing, the Vestibule, is located. 

The vestibule uses dense fluid and the principle of inertia to judge the direction of movement and therefore, sends signals to the Cerebellum to activate appropriate muscles in the body and limbs to prevent us from falling over.

Some of the common problems with the inner ear leading to vertigo include:

· Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo

BPPV also called simply Begin Vertigo or Positional Vertigo is a common cause of vertigo complaints received by chiropractors. It accounts for 20% of all cases of vertigo and in older adults, makes up almost 50% of all cases of vertigo. BPPV manifests as short-lived but severe moments of illusionary spinning and dizziness. The exact cause of BPPV is uncertain. 

However, it is theorized that it occurs as a result of tiny calcium particles clumping up in the vestibule canals and disrupting normal signal transmission. 

· Meniere’s Disease

The inner ear has an internal pressure that is kept equal to the outside atmospheric pressure in order to function effectively. Meniere’s disease occurs when fluid builds up inside the inner ear and changes the inner ear pressure relative to the outside. 

This results in false stimulation of the inner ear apparatus that manifests as ringing in the ears (Tinnitus) and the spinning sensation of Vertigo. 

· Vestibular Labyrinthitis or Neuritis

Usually occurring after a viral infection of the inner ear or the throat, the vestibular nerve or the bony canals of the vestibule called ‘Labyrinths’ are inflamed and their normal signal transmission is impeded. 

This leads to the brain being fooled into assuming that the position of the body is off, and this in turn results in the spinning sensation of vertigo. 

Apart from the inner ear vertigo can be triggered by other, less common conditions involving the musculoskeletal system such as head and neck injuries and whiplash injuries, the nervous system such as minor strokes and migraine headaches, tumors such as acoustic neuromas or may even manifest as a side effect of different drugs such as the antibiotic class Aminoglycosides. 

Chiropractic techniques to balance your world 

Vertigo is one of the most frequent complaints chiropractors receive and, in many cases, vertigo can resolve by itself, as the brain has an incredible ability to adapt and utilize other mechanisms to maintain balance. 

However, for the cases of vertigo requiring treatment, chiropractors utilize many techniques which include but are not limited to:

· Epley’s Maneuver

This repositioning technique is used for vertigo arising from inner ear problems, especially BPPV. 

In this maneuver, the chiropractor aims to reposition the debris and shift it from balance-sensitive areas of the vestibule to more innocuous areas so that vestibular function is spared, and vertigo alleviated. 

The chiropractor essentially moves into specific positions that he/she found during the assessment to be reducing the symptoms. 

This positioning allows gravity to move the calcium debris away from sensitive areas of the vestibule to more harmless locations and thereby restoring equilibrium. 

· Vestibular Rehabilitation

This type of therapy aims to strengthen your sense of balance by training the brain to utilize other systems for equilibrium maintenance. 

Multiple techniques and exercises can be used to achieve this effect, and your chiropractor will recommend the appropriate method after a thorough assessment.

· Exercises

Your chiropractor may recommend some easy exercises you can do by yourself at home to further facilitate the treatment process. 

One popular and effective exercise, as documented in the 2006 issue of the Scientific World Journal is the ‘Brandt-Daroff’ exercise. 

In the Brandt-Daroff exercise, you simply sit at the end of your bend and alternatively flop to aside for one minute, then back upright for a minute and then to the opposite side for one minute, and then repeat. 

Other exercises like Tai Chi, meditation, and breathing techniques like Qi-Gong are also recommended by chiropractors to aid in vertigo treatment. 

· Lifestyle modification

The chiropractor may also advise a change in your lifestyle and eating habits to ensure a well-functioning equilibrium system. He/she may advise decreased use of tobacco and alcohol, as well as non-prescription sleeping aids and antihistamines. Monosodium Glutamate or MSG is found in processed foods that increase the likelihood of vertigo attacks. And certain vitamins like Vitamin B-6 and Vitamin C may be supplemented especially if you drink alcohol as prolonged alcohol consumption results in vitamin deficiency. 

Vitamin C has a particular role as an antioxidant in reducing the free-radical induced damage to the vestibular system.

Conclusion

Vertigo has a wide variety of causative factors that cause your world to spin out of control and leave you struggling to maintain balance. Chiropractic maneuvers and techniques are a non-invasive, conservative method of treatment utilizing the body’s natural construction to treat some of the causes and effectively eliminate the symptoms, bringing your world back to balance.

Categories Vertigo

Vertigo Chiropractic Treatment

Have you ever been dizzy before? Maybe you went from laying down to standing up too fast, and the room starts to spin until you can get a hold of things. Maybe you were like me, and you played football in high school; you get your bell rung a few too many times, you get up, then get your bearings before you can go back. Maybe you have vertigo, and you wake up in the middle of the night with the room spinning and spinning and spinning until it finally stops. We see dizziness and vertigo a significant amount in our office, so why do our patients who experience these symptoms get great results with our care?

The main reason being the upper cervical spine, or the top two bones in your neck, house what is called the brainstem. The brainstem is the connector between your brain and the rest of your body. It is like our relay center. Sometimes we call it Houston Control for all you space aeronauts out there. The brainstem holds 10 out of 12 cranial nerves. If you have read previous blogs of mine, you will see that these cranial nerves innervate the face, eyes, ears, and everything else up into our head, and it all comes from the top of the neck. How does this affect dizziness? First, we must talk about balance because essentially dizziness, or vertigo, is a lack of balance. Where does balance come from in our body? Balance comes from three things: our eyes, ears, and mechanoreceptors. Mechanoreceptors are little cells in the muscle that basically tell us where we are in space, while causing certain muscles to contract or relax for us to stay balanced.

All three of these things play a role, and all three of them start at the top of the neck. Let us think about a real-world scenario. You are deep sea fishing, or maybe you are just on a boat out in the ocean. When you are on the boat, you are looking out on the horizon, and everything looks flat. You see the horizon, nothing is moving. Maybe you can see some waves, but other than that, everything is still. However, we are bobbing up and down on those waves, so the eyes see the still horizon, but the ears (and fluid in the ears) are constantly up and down. In essence, eyes are still, ears are moving, and the brain does not know what to do.

Suddenly you get a little dizzy, then boom, you are seasick and wind up throwing up off the deck. The problem with this is that people with dizziness or vertigo are not even on a boat! Why is this happening? Why is it that you can get dizzy, but your eyes and your ears are still? This is where the nerve system comes in. If there is pressure on the brainstem due to a misalignment at the top of the neck, one of those nerves that are going up into the ears, or eyes, could be interfered with. Maybe it is interfering with the optic nerve, cutting off some of your visual clarity. Maybe the misalignment is cutting off the nerve input to the vestibulocochlear nerve. “Vestibulo” means balance and “cochlear” means hearing. If there is pressure on that “vestibulo” part, we are not going to be able to balance properly, and thus, we have dizziness or vertigo. 

What about mechanoreceptors? When one of the top bones in the neck misaligns, forcing certain muscles to contract and others to relax, they stay contracted for a long period of time, causing the mechanoreceptors to get damaged. There is also something called the vestibular nucleus. Remember that vestibular means balance and the vestibular nucleus just so happens to be right in the heart of the brainstem. If the messages from these mechanoreceptors to the vestibular nucleus are interfered with, it just cannot function properly. If the balance center of our body is not functioning properly, does it make sense that we may experience dizziness and vertigo?

Another thing that can happen is that when the top bone in your neck misaligns, it forces your head to come out in front of you. When this happens, it causes a lack of proper curvature of the bones in the neck, resulting in a straight neck, or even a reverse-curve. This abnormal position starts to pull on the muscles in the neck, while also stressing the arteries going up into the head. Stress on these arteries causes a lack of blood flow to the brain. Does it make sense why this can cause dizziness and vertigo?

Now you know exactly how dizziness and vertigo happen, so how do we correct it? In our office, it is simple. All we do is find the misalignment at the top of the neck and correct it. This correction takes pressure off your nerve system, allowing your body to function better. With better function comes less symptoms, which is why our patients who experience dizziness and vertigo achieve great results. If you or a loved one suffer from dizziness, vertigo, Meniere’s disease, or anything that has to do with the eyes, ears, or the mechanoreceptors in your neck, give our office a call. We are happy to do a consultation free of charge to see if it is an upper cervical issue that we can help you with. 

Categories Vertigo

Can a Chiropractor Help You with Vertigo and Balance Problems?

Vertigo, or the sense that the world is spinning around you, is a serious issue, affecting many people and diminishing their quality of life. They are not able to walk, orient themselves in space, and complete simple tasks because all their visual points of reference are out of focus. If you are suffering from balance problems associated with vertigo, you know just how difficult it is to do simple things and how little enjoyment of life you have.

In the past, you may have tried various medications. But your problem may not be related to a cause that drugs can cure. Instead, you may benefit from a natural form of therapy, which does not involve using any substances on or inside your body: chiropractic.

What Are the Causes of Vertigo?

You may ask: how can a chiropractor help you with vertigo? First of all, we need to go to the root of the problem: why you suffer from vertigo. Vertigo is, in its essence, a problem with balance.

Achieving balance in a tri-dimensional space is a very complex issue, involving several organs, including three tiny elements in the inner ear. When you feel vertigo, this is not a condition in itself, but a symptom that something is wrong with one of the organs that should keep you in balance.

In essence, vertigo indicates that there is a problem with:

  • Your inner ear
  • Your spinal ligaments or joints
  • The vertebrae in your neck.

In very rare and severe cases, vertigo may be the symptom of a stroke or a brain tumor. 

What Is Chiropractic and How Effective Is It?

Chiropractic is a healthcare specialty that involves manipulation by hand of the spine and joints to relieve various symptoms. Since the spine is the “main highway” of the nervous system, communicating with all the parts of the boy, chiropractic treatment is recommended for restoring function and mobility to various areas, from neck and lower back to arms and legs.

The beneficial effects of chiropractic on vertigo were demonstrated in a study published by the National Center for Biotechnology Information. Its authors conducted chiropractic treatment on a group of patients suffering from vertigo. The conclusions of the study indicate that “most patients demonstrated improved balance, and some showed reduced dizziness and neck pain after 8 weeks of chiropractic care”.

How Can a Chiropractor Help You with Vertigo?

A chiropractor can use one or both of the following positioning maneuvers to improve your balance and reduce vertigo symptoms:

Manipulation – by manipulating joints in your upper neck, the chiropractor will restore your balance by correctly aligning all the vertebrae and muscles. 

The Epley Maneuver – by manipulating your head in various positions, the chiropractor will help reposition the crystals in your “balance center” – the vestibulocochlear apparatus of your inner ear. These manipulations will also help clear away debris accumulating in this delicate area.

Last but not least, a chiropractor can teach you a series of exercises that you can safely perform at home in order to improve your balance and fight the sensation of dizziness. In time, you will be able to walk, run and go up and down the stairs with confidence. Nothing will hold you back from enjoying your life, so don’t wait up: find a chiropractor near you and say good-bye to vertigo!

Categories Vertigo

Vestibulocochlear Nerve Disorder Solutions in Charlote

When most people think about chiropractic, they think about neck and back pain. Although with chiropractic we see amazing results with neck and back pain, we know that it is so much more. Actually, the very first adjustment in 1895 given by the founder of chiropractic, D.D. Palmer, was given to restore a man’s hearing! We know that chiropractic, and especially upper cervical care, is so much more than neck and back pain. It truly restores function throughout the entire body.

How was an adjustment, or a force given to a bone, able to restore a man’s hearing? When we look at the brainstem, there is a nerve coming off called the vestibulocochlear nerve. This is cranial nerve number eight. What “vestibulo” means is balance, and “cochlear” is hearing, and we know that this nerve travels to the inner ear. When people suffer from ear disorders, whether that be Meniere’s disease, hearing loss, vertigo, etc; we usually see that there is nothing wrong with the ear itself. Doctors check out the ear and they do not see anything wrong, but the person is still experiencing hearing loss, tinnitus, or ringing in the ears, and vertigo, or severe dizziness/balance issues. Some experience drop attacks, or dizziness that is so bad that the person experiences nausea, throwing up, and he or she literally cannot do anything because the world is just spinning.

If nothing is wrong with the ear, what could possibly be wrong? What we have found in our office with upper cervical care is that something is wrong with this vestibulocochlear nerve. What we found is that a misalignment in the top of the neck that puts pressure on this brainstem can also put pressure on the vestibulocochlear nerve. Even though there is nothing wrong with the ear, the brain is interpreting that something is wrong with the ear, due to the pressure on the vestibulocochlear nerve.

However, we do not know what this pressure causes. Sometimes it is tinnitus; sometimes it is vertigo; we do not know. We just know that if we can take the pressure off the brainstem, allowing that vestibulocochlear nerve to function and get the correct messages from the brain to the ear, and vice versa, everything starts to work correctly. That is why those with Meniere’s symptoms, those with vertigo, and those with hearing loss who experience upper cervical care many times get their symptoms relieved.

Categories Vertigo

Natural Treatment for Vestibular Disorder Symptoms

The vestibular disorder occurs when the vestibular system is damaged. This can be caused by the natural aging process, an infection, or an injury to the head or neck.

Vestibular disorder symptoms can take a toll on a person’s daily life and while there are treatment options available, it is hard to find an effective natural treatment for reducing or eliminating vestibular disorder symptoms.

What are Vestibular Disorder Symptoms?

Symptoms associated with the vestibular disorder can take a toll on someone’s daily life for a reason. These symptoms affect many natural functions including vision, balance, hearing, and thinking. The following is a list of common vestibular disorder symptoms:

  • Changes in Hearing – Changes in hearing that may occur due to a vestibular disorder include hearing loss, distorted or fluctuating hearing, tinnitus (a ringing, whistling, roaring, or whooshing phantom noise that is only heard by you), and sensitivity to loud noises or environments.
  • Changes in Vision – For this vestibular disorder symptom, one may experience a disturbance in their vision. This means their visual field could seem bouncy or jiggly as they move their head. Double vision may also occur and sometimes these visual disturbances can cease when the head is kept still. This vestibular disorder symptom usually encourages the patient to seek out an eye care professional before realizing it could be connected to a vestibular disorder.
  • Vertigo and Dizziness – The vestibular system includes parts of the inner ear and the brain that help your eye movements and balance. When your sense of balance is interrupted, vertigo can occur and make you feel as if the environment around you is spinning or that you are moving while being still. This vestibular disorder symptom can make you feel nauseous and encourage you to stay still to help stop the false sense of movements.
  • Balance and Spatial Orientation – This vestibular disorder symptom can make you feel the need to hold onto something nearby to help keep your balance or you may find it difficult to walk in a straight line. This can make you seem clumsy and cause you to stumble often. Maintaining proper posture may also be difficult as the head tilts to the side.
  • Cognitive Changes – Cognitive changes can occur due to a vestibular disorder. Remember, the vestibular system does include part of the brain and the brain can be affected if the vestibular system is damaged. This vestibular disorder symptom can change how you take in information. It can make it difficult for you to understand conversations and concentrate. You can experience mental/physical fatigue, forgetfulness, confusion, disorientation, and short-term memory lapses. This can take a huge toll on how you react to stressful situations and can play a significant part in how you could change psychologically.
  • Psychological Changes – While living with vestibular disorder symptoms, psychological changes can occur due to how it affects your daily life. Living with these symptoms that limit your physical and cognitive activity can cause anxiety, depression, panic, and social isolation. Over time it can affect one’s self-confidence and reduce one’s self-reliance and self-esteem.

What Treatments are Used to Treat Vestibular Disorder Symptoms?

The most common treatments for reducing vestibular disorder symptoms are exercises, diet changes, medication, and surgery. Below is a list of how these treatments work for patients who want to reduce their vestibular disorder symptoms:

  • Exercises – A natural treatment for helping with vestibular disorder symptoms is a home-based exercise. These home exercises are assigned by a physical or occupational therapist and are to be performed at a prescribed pace. Included with these home exercises is a progressive fitness program. The progressive fitness program helps to increase energy and reduce stress.
  • Vestibular Rehabilitation Therapy – Vestibular rehabilitation therapy (or VRT) treats a patient by giving them specific exercises for their head, body, and eyes. These exercises are made to help train the brain in how to recognize and process signals from the vestibular system and coordinate them with their vision and perception/awareness of position and body movement.
  • Diet Adjustments – Depending on the patient, adjustments to their diets can be quite useful. Diet changes such as caffeine intake, use of nicotine, and alcohol consumption can make a difference in their vestibular disorder symptoms.
  • Medication – Depending on the severity of a patient’s vestibular disorder symptoms, different treatments for medication are used. An acute phase that lasts up to five days rely on prescriptions that help reduce motion sickness and nausea.
  • Surgery – If medication does not work in alleviating vestibular disorder symptoms, the patient may be recommended a corrective or a destructive surgery – depending on their case. A corrective surgery helps repair the inner ear function and stabilize it while a destructive surgery tries to stop the production of sensory information or prevent the transmission from your inner ear to the brain. Like all treatment options, surgery should be considered a last resort as it will make permanent changes to how your body naturally functions.

While these treatment options are widely used, they are also focused solely on the vestibular disorder symptoms. However, there is an all-natural treatment available to those who want their body to heal and repair from the inside out by targeting what could be causing your symptoms.

A Natural Treatment That Targets the Cause of my Vestibular Disorder Symptoms?

For years upper cervical adjustments have been used to help maintain a healthy upper cervical spine and brain stem function. Your upper cervical spine protects your brain stem and allows proper communication to flow through the brain to the body so it may continue to function properly and heal and repair itself after injury or infection.

Vestibular disorders affect the inner ear and parts of the brain, and it also sits very close to the atlas vertebra in your upper cervical spine. A misalignment here can compress against the brain stem and surrounding nerves, affecting soft tissue and disrupting brain to body communication.

What happens here is the body becomes unable to effectively repair, heal, and fight off infection. If left untreated, the area will weaken causing more issues throughout the body to occur as if it can affect regular bodily functions such as breathing, sleeping, blood pressure, and eating. 

The vessels, nerves, and structure of the ear can be affected by an upper cervical misalignment – causing changes in how your body perceives balance and lead to improper drainage that causes ear infections. A lot of vestibular disorder symptoms can be caused by this misalignment.

The purpose of the upper cervical chiropractor is to realign the upper cervical spine, releasing pressure placed on the brain stem and surrounding nerves. This encourages brain and body communication to return to normal and to begin the repair and healing process.

Since this treatment relies on giving back the body’s ability to naturally heal, repair, and function as it should – patients who have already tried medication and surgery still report upper cervical as being effective in treating their vestibular disorder symptoms.

If you or a loved one is suffering from vestibular disorder symptoms and are looking to find relief, upper cervical adjustments are gentle, safer than medication and surgery, and allows your body to strengthen naturally instead of being altered to overlook the symptoms or forced to ignore them with medication or surgery.

Categories Vertigo

Vestibular Disorder Natural Recovery

I would like to talk to you a little bit about vestibular problems and a natural way to get relief at our clinic. If you have a vestibular disorder, obviously it is an inner ear problem that has something to do with your balance. Sometimes you get a little lightheaded, a little dizzy; sometimes you get so bad that you might throw up; you might have what they call drop attacks, where you just fall to the ground, or just can’t even stand up! The vestibular system is a way to help your brain know where it is in space. It actually comes from the same reflex that causes seasickness. Balance is a combination of your eyes, fluid in your ears, and mechanoreceptors receptors around the brain and the head all working together, constantly telling the brain where it is in space.

     If you close your eyes and move around, you still know where you are, even without your eyes. If you go underwater, you can sense where you are. It is all about just making sure the brain knows where it is at all times.

    However, vestibular messages can get distorted, giving the brain faulty information. The brain gets a little woozy, a little lightheaded, a little dizzy. For example, if you are experiencing seasickness and you are looking out on a flat horizon, your eyes are telling you that you are still, but mechanoreceptors and fluid in your ears feel you going up and down. This phenomenon is confusing to the brain, making you dizzy and ultimately nauseous, sometimes to the point of throwing up.

     What we have found with a lot of vestibular problems is that they actually come from the messages from the ear getting distorted before it gets to the brain. This makes the brain confused. There is only one place this can happen, and that is at the top of the neck. This is because the nerves from the inner ear go down inside your head, then down through the neck, connecting to what is called the brainstem, which is located through the top two bones of the neck.

     This is the only place where the nerve can actually get altered, or interfered with, like stepping on a garden hose. The normal message leaves the ear telling you everything is balanced, but right at the level where the nerve goes into the brainstem, the message can be altered due to a bone being out of alignment. The normal message now leaves the ear and gets to the brainstem where it’s altered. By the time it gets to the brain, the brain receives a different message. Now the eyes are saying one thing and mechanoreceptors are saying another. The message to the brain from the inner ear has changed. The brain is confused, giving you the light-headed, the dizziness, the rocking – all the different things that can go along with vestibular problems.

    What we have found at the Upper Cervical Spine Center is that if there is a bone out of alignment in the upper neck, and if we can correct it, it is as simple as taking your foot off the garden hose. Now the normal message from the ear travels through the nerve to the brainstem, then to the brain, unaltered and unimpeded, giving the brain the normal message it is supposed to get. Thus, the symptoms go away. The dizziness, the lightheadedness, the rocking – whatever type of symptom you might have related to that vestibular portion of the ear.

Categories Vertigo

Upper Cervical Chiropractic Treatment for Vestibular Disorders

The unfortunate reality behind the statistical analysis of vestibular disorders is that not all of them are reported correctly. There is not sufficient data about vestibular disorders in data banks around the globe. This shows the difficulty in acknowledging the existence of this set of complications, which in turn affects the diagnosis and treatment as well.

Living life with the vestibular disease is quite challenging. In regions where health services are not advanced, patients have to go through an absurd route of diagnosis and treatment. Many patients claim that they have been referred to psychiatrists either by their family or the physicians because the symptoms reflected a psychiatric disorder.

In developed and underdeveloped countries, there are several patients struggling with vestibular disorders by using medicines that are not really effective. 

Diagnosis and treatment are the later part of the story. The first part is to know what vestibular disorders are. Vestibular disorders are basically balancing dysfunction. These disorders are associated with the inner ear as we know that our ear is divided into three parts: outer, middle, and inner ear.

The inner ear has two parts called the bony labyrinth and the membranous labyrinth. The membranous labyrinth has two functions; first, reception of sound waves and second, to maintain equilibrium. The former role is conducted by the organ of Corti or spiral organ, and the latter function is undertaken by the vestibulocochlear apparatus.

Vestibulocochlear apparatus itself consists of three components: utricle, saccule, and three semi-circular canals. Also, the inner ear contains two types of fluids: perilymph and endolymph. Perilymph is present between bony and membranous labyrinth, whereas the perilymph is present in the membranous labyrinth.

Now that we know the basic anatomy of the inner ear, it is easy to deduce the reason behind the balance dysfunction. The idea behind the occurrence of symptoms of vestibular disorders is the increase in the production or decrease in the drainage of endolymph, which results in its accumulation in membranous labyrinth.

The collection of fluid disturbs the structures inside, which impairs their functioning and causes violent vertigo, disorientation, loss of hearing or ringing of ears, abnormal vision, and other symptoms such as anxiety, arrhythmia, nausea, and diarrhea, and others. 

The category of vestibular disorders has a long list of diseases and conditions. Some vestibular disorders are Acoustic Neuroma, Autoimmune Inner Ear Disease (AIED), Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV), Tinnitus, Vestibular Paroxymia, Labyrinthitis, Vestibular Neuritis, and Meniere’s Disease, and other. In all vestibular disorders, the classic symptoms remain the same: vertigo, tinnitus, and loss of equilibrium.

Patients suffering from vestibular disorders experience a sudden attack in which these symptoms are experienced. They experience horizontal spinning of the head, the ringing of ears with odd hearing sensation, and they drop to the ground. This attack has no time limits. It can last half an hour to complete the day.

Most of the time, the observers conclude it to be epilepsy or psychiatric problem. After diagnostic tests and proper examination by a physician, it is known to be a vestibular disorder. 

A patient of vestibular disorder finds it very challenging to deal with their condition. They have no control over their disease, which makes them anxious. The thought of facing the world with this condition brings them anxiety. They have a fear of losing balance and falling to the ground in front of people because of which they stop leaving their comfort zone altogether.

They find it impossible to handle their situation as well as the embarrassment they bring to themselves. Such patients need not only counseling but also the support of family and friends. They need help and proper medical attention to regain their confidence. 

As far as the treatment of vestibular disorders is concerned, there is no cure in the form of medicines. For the alleviation of symptoms, drugs are prescribed. However, for the complete treatment of the condition, medical science has not come up with authentic medicines.

Since there is no cure for the vestibular disease recovery; therefore, for example, Meniere’s disease recovery is made possible by opting alternative medical approach called upper cervical chiropractic treatment. 

Upper cervical chiropractic treatment is an alternative medical approach that is pseudoscientific, which is employed to diagnose and treat spinal disorders. According to chiropractors, those people who suffer from vestibular disorders report neurological or musculoskeletal injuries.

These injuries can be ancient, about 10-15 years ago. It is common to develop a vestibular disease after many years of recovery from such injuries. It appears that the recovery is partial. Since the recovery from injuries is not compete, therefore, the after-affects appear quite a long time later.

Such incidences usually include motor accidents or falling off something hitting the spinal cord. Since the spinal cord is a sensitive yet strong component of the signal communicating system, therefore, slight injury to it can cause a severe problem. The same happens in vestibular disorders in which the spinal cord is disturbed.

The part of the brain which controls the equilibrium and balancing of our body is called the brain stem. It is a part of hindbrain. Being in close contact with the spinal cord is prone to get affected by spinal cord disturbance. In an injury, the first two vertebrae of the spinal cord called Atlas (C1) and Axis (C2) are most likely to get affected.

These vertebrae exert pressure over the brainstem, making it malfunction. The malfunctioning is caused by the damage to the Trigeminal nerve, which is the fifth cranial nerve and innervates the Eustachian tube. Thus, damage to the spinal cord damages the brain stem, which in turn damages the Trigeminal nerve.

All of it results in the appearance of the classic triad of symptoms: vertigo, tinnitus, and loss of balance and orientation.

For the successful management of vestibular disorders, including Meniere’s disease recovery, chiropractors are confident about their upper cervical chiropractic technique of fixing the cervical region of the spinal cord.

By manipulation and positioning maneuvers, the Central Nervous System (CNS) functions properly and maintains the equilibrium of the body. Since the balance dysfunction is caused due to inner ear, therefore chiropractors use Epley maneuvers to provide you relief.

Categories Vertigo

Vestibular Disorders Chiropractic Treatment

The vestibular system consists of parts of the inner ear and brain. These parts help control balance and eye movements. When the vestibular system is damaged, vestibular disorder can occur. The natural process of aging can damage your vestibular system as well as an injury or disease.

For adults 40 years of age or older, it is estimated that 35% have experienced some type of vestibular dysfunction.

What is the most common vestibular disorder symptom?

The most common symptom of vestibular disorder is dizziness and having trouble with balance. Other than these symptoms, those who have vestibular disorder could experience the following:

Vertigo and dizziness – Vertigo is a sensation of the environment spinning around you or the sense of you moving while you are standing still. Vertigo can also make one feel they are being pulled in one direction. Dizziness is the feeling of lightheadedness, floating, or rocking.

Vision disturbance – This vestibular disorder symptom can cause the person to have trouble focusing or tracking objects with the eyes. Busy visual environments like stores, concerts, patterns, and traffic may cause discomfort. The person may develop a sensitivity to lights or glares and experience increased night blindness – making it difficult for them to walk in the dark. Along with this, having vision disturbance as a vestibular disorder symptom can result in the person experiencing poor depth perception.

Changes in hearing – Changes in hearing as a vestibular disorder symptom includes hearing loss, tinnitus, and sensitivity to loud noises or environments.

Imbalance and spatial disorientation – When it comes to this vestibular disorder symptom, a person may have trouble walking straight or while turning. When your body is imbalanced, it can cause muscle and joint pain as well. In addition, they may have difficulty in maintaining proper posture and the head could tilt to the side

Because of spatial disorientation, the person tends to look down to confirm the ground’s location or feel the need to hold onto something when standing or seating. This symptom can cause the person to develop a sensitivity to changes in walking surfaces or footwear.

Cognitive changes – Some cognitive changes reported as a vestibular disorder symptom include forgetfulness, confusion, difficulty paying attention or concentrating, trouble understanding conversations, trouble comprehending directions or instructions, mental fatigue, and short-term memory lapses.

Psychological changes – Psychological changes include a drop in self-esteem or confidence, depression, anxiety, panic, loss of self-reliance, and social isolation.

How does Vestibular Disorder Affect my Health?

Vestibular disorder can affect your health in many ways, mentally and physically. Those who have vestibular disorders could be seen as being easily distracted, overly anxious, attention seeking, or lazy. However, the symptoms that come with having a vestibular disorder causes changes in how you act and do things on a daily basis.

Over time, these negative changes can take a toll on your mental and physical health.

Since the vestibular system is a link between the brain and the inner ear that helps with balance, injury to your vestibular system disrupts the balance and can cause nausea, motion sickness, headaches, or feeling of being seasick.

Difference Between Vestibular Disorder and Closed Ear

A closed ear is when your ears become clogged from an ear infection or eustachian tube dysfunction. During an eustachian tube dysfunction, the mucosal lining of the tube could be swollen or does not properly open or close. With a vestibular disorder, however, this is caused by damage to the vestibular system and affects your balance.

Can Vestibular Disorder be Treated by a Neck Adjustment?

It is recommended that a neck adjustment be done by a professional who studies the upper cervical spine (neck area). A professional who studies the upper cervical spine will know more about how the health of the neck area can affect the rest of the body and cause many issues and conditions down the line if left untreated.

Believe it or not, getting a proper chiropractic neck adjustment can do wonders for those experiencing vestibular disorder.

Can Chiropractic Offer Vestibular Disorder Treatment?

Chiropractic neck adjustments are known to help improve patients’ conditions on many types of disorders, including vestibular disorder. This is because the upper cervical spine (the top two bones located beneath the base of the skull in the neck area) oversee in protecting the brain stem – the most powerful part of our body.

The brain stem controls our normal bodily functions and sends brain to body signals to help heal and repair injuries and sickness. If a misalignment occurs, where any of the top two bones fall out of place, they can press against the brain stem causing it to not function properly.

When this happens, many negative changes begin to take place within the body as signals now become distorted and the body does not respond properly or sometimes does not respond at all.

Disorders that involve issues with balance, hearing, and vision are often improved after chiropractic neck adjustments.

Best Chiropractic Technique for Vestibular Disorder

The best chiropractic technique for vestibular disorder is referred to as upper cervical adjustments. These adjustments are focused on the neck area and are gentle, precise motions that take pressure off your brain stem as the bones are moved back into place.

Because proper brain to body communication is restored after releasing pressure placed onto the brain stem, the body begins to repair and heal itself immediately and will continue to do so as long as the correct adjustment holds.

Those with vestibular disorder have seen great improvement after as little as one upper cervical adjustment.

The goal of the upper cervical chiropractor is to continue to adjust the upper cervical area of your spine until the body repairs the soft tissue surrounding the bones to become strong enough to hold it in place.

This helps regulate the blood flow that could cause headaches and vertigo, and helps pain caused by tight muscles or torn ligaments. Upper cervical adjustments have also help parts of the inner ear move back into proper place. When the brain stem enables your system to return communicating and functioning normally, the body changes itself significantly to repair itself back to health as best as it can.

Chiropractic Vestibular Disorder Practitioner Near Me

If you have vestibular disorder and are looking for an all-natural, safe alternative that can target the cause of the issue rather than only focusing on the symptoms, upper cervical adjustments should not be overlooked.

The brain stem is very powerful and having a healthy brain stem is important. Any harm placed on the brain stem can cause many multiple complications that will worsen over time if left untreated, including the development of vestibular disorder.

We can determine if you have a misalignment, the severity of the misalignment, and how it is affecting your body and treat it appropriately. Patients who have undergone treatments of medication and surgery have still reported great improvements with upper cervical adjustments as no medication or surgery helps the brain stem or body return to its natural function.

Categories Vertigo

What Exactly is Vertigo?

What exactly is vertigo? Well, with vertigo, the symptoms are often dizziness, lightheadedness, and it can sometimes lead to vomiting. It’s kind of like being seasick, but really quick oftentimes.

What are the causes of vertigo?

Well, what we have found is most of the time it actually has to do with the inner ear. Now, I know a lot of times you go to the ENT, they check the ear, and they said there’s nothing wrong with the ear. Well, what happens is the message from the ear has to be transmitted to the brain. The way that happens is through a nerve called the vestibular cochlear nerve. The vestibular part is balance; the cochlear part is the hearing. There are two separate branches as they leave the ear, and then they come together to become one nerve as it goes to the upper neck, to the brainstem, where it then goes up into the brain.

Well, what can happen is there’s nothing wrong with the ear. Most of the time you go to the ENT, the ear looks perfectly fine, but somewhere between the ear and the brain, the message gets changed so that the brain gets a sensation of dizziness. Now actually what happens is it throws off all the other receptors because you ear is saying one thing, and the other ear is saying something else. Your eyes are telling the brain something else, and then the mechanoreceptors, which all of these tell the brain where it is in space is the message, gets confused at the brain, which makes the brain go into that vertigo and nausea. It’s the same reflex that causes seasickness actually. If you’re looking out on a flat horizon, your eyes tell your brain that you’re actually standing still, but the boat’s moving, so your body feels you going up and down, fluid in your ears, and mechanoreceptors. The different messages confuse the brain, thus giving you the dizziness, which ultimately can turn into nausea.

What we have found 

There’s one place without some sort of gross pathology, like a tumor, or some sort of a broken bone or something, that can actually interfere with the message between the ear and the brain. It can thus create a change in what the brain interprets as normal, creating dizziness. It can often create ringing in the ears. It can often even interfere with the hearing itself, making it harder to hear, or creating a full sensation in the ear.

If one of the top bones in the neck, it’s called the atlas or axis, they’re the top two bones, get misaligned, then that message between the ear and the brain gets interfered with, and it gets distorted then leading to the vertigo. So as upper cervical chiropractors, what we have found is if we can find the misalignment, then we can correct it perfectly, which is done best by an upper cervical doctor, and upper cervical specialist. Because they know there are 274 ways just those top two bones misalign, and the more perfect we get it corrected, the better it’ll stay, and the better the hearing will improve, and the vertigo will improve, because what we’re going to do is now, like taking your foot off the garden hose, we’re actually going to allow the real actual message from the perfectly working ear to get to the brain unimpeded, unaltered, so now the brain gets the normal message, which goes along with the message that the rest of the body is sending to it, so that now the brain is no longer confused. The vertigo goes away. The nausea goes away. If associated, lack of hearing, tinnitus, and all of those things improve.

If you’ve been having vertigo

Dizzy spells that come and go, or maybe it’s constant, find an upper cervical doctor near you. Let them check and see, and maybe it’s one of those top bones in your neck that’s interfering with a message from the normal ear to the brain, creating the confusion in the brain, creating the dizziness, the vertigo. If so, if you do have an upper cervical misalignment, we can correct that, removing any interference, allowing the body to work the way it’s intended to work, allowing it to heal.

Now just remember everything in this universe has a cause and effect. Every effect has a cause. There’s a reason why you have the vertigo. One thing I can guarantee you is that it’s not a drug deficiency, so taking medications will never fix it. They might mask it, might make you feel better a little bit temporarily, but if you have a misalignment that’s causing the vertigo, if you can find it and remove the cause, the effect goes away. The vertigo goes away. You feel better, and you longer have the dizziness, the nausea, etc.

Categories Vertigo

Where Dizziness Come From?

One of the questions I frequently get asked is about dizziness. Where does dizziness come from? What causes it? How come every time I stand up, I get lightheaded, and it takes me a few seconds to get my bearings and get straightened out? 

Well, there are a few different reasons why people could have dizziness. Many people take a lot of different medications, and a common side effect is dizziness. Rarely, and very rarely, there could be some sort of a tumor or some sort of growth that could be affecting your balance. What I have seen frequently for the majority of cases in our office is that something is going on in the upper part of the neck. Now, how could something in the neck create dizziness? Most of the time what we have found is that dizziness comes from the brain trying to figure out where it is in space. It’s the same reflex that causes seasickness. In the case of seasickness, your eyes look out on a flat horizon. They tell the brain, “You should be still.

You should be level.” But then the fluid in your ears and the messages from your ear to the brain tell the brain you’re moving, so the brain gets confused and can’t quite figure it out. It then makes you a little bit dizzy. Sometimes, the dizziness hits so hard that it goes straight into nausea, and sometimes even vomiting. What we have found is that there is something going on with the message from the ear to the brain that is getting distorted, which is then making the brain confused, so it creates the sensation of dizziness. Now, how could that possibly be?

You see, a lot of times, if you’ve had dizziness, you’ve probably been to an ENT or your medical doctor, even urologist, and they’ll look at your ear and try to figure out if there is something going on with the ear. Most of the time, they’ll find that the ear’s perfectly fine. Well, if the ear is perfectly fine, then how could the message somehow get distorted to the brain, making the brain confused? What we have found is that there are a couple of bones at the very top of the neck. There’s a nerve that goes from the ear that sends the message to the brain, called the stimula cochlear nerve.

The cochlear part is your hearing. The stimula part is the balance part. If that message, before it gets to the brain, gets altered at the top of the neck, then it sends a different message to the brain, and the brain has a hard time putting it together and trying to figure out exactly where you are in space. This is where the dizziness comes from, and sometimes it gets to the point where you could experience vomiting, which is the same reflex as seasickness. There are no nerves that come off of the brain. All the nerves in the head, face, neck, your vision, taste, smell, hearing, and balance all come off from the head, from the brainstem, and go back up into the head, face, and neck.

Therefore, if a bone is out of alignment here, it could interfere with the message between the ear and the brain, causing the dizziness. That is why the righting reflex, that whole seasickness type sensation, is why they treat dizziness with medications like Dramamine, which is the same medication they give for seasickness. It is because it’s the same situation. It is simply just a confusion. The brain is saying, “Hey, nothing’s making sense here.” It creates that dizzy sensation.

Taking the medications obviously aren’t going to fix the problem. It’s just going to temporarily mask it because you don’t have a drug deficiency that creates your dizziness. There’s something going on within you. What we have to do is try and figure out exactly what’s going on inside your body that could be creating the problem. If you have a bone that is out of alignment at the top of your neck, then that is where we can help you.If you are having dizziness or vertigo sensations, the best thing you can do is rule out that there may be a problem at the top of your neck. If there is a problem, go see an upper cervical doctor and let them fix it. Then the problem goes away. If there is not a problem, then at least you ruled that out, and we promise to continue to look to try to find someone else that could possibly help you.