Correcting Spinal Alignment and Ending Dizziness

How is dizziness best described? When dizziness is a disorder, it is placed into three categories:

Vertigo: This is the false sensation that your surroundings are spinning around you, very similar to spinning on a tire swing.
Syncope: It is defined as losing consciousness briefly, similar to fainting, or dimmed vision and losing coordination, feeling lightheaded, or confused. This is often experienced when standing up too quickly.
Non-syncope, non-vertigo dizziness: When this happens, you feel like you may fall because you’ve lost your sense of balance, which can get worse if you move.

When it comes to the most prevalent reasons for doctor and emergency room visits, dizziness and vertigo are right up there with back pain and headaches. What often happens is a person experiences a fall from the dizzy spell, a much more common scenario among the elderly since the dizziness is often combined with other neurological problems and chronic medical problems.This is why it's important to find vertigo relief in McKinney as soon as possible.

Only 5 to 10 percent of the population under the age of 40 are affected by dizziness, imbalance, and vertigo. For those upwards of age 40, it impacts 40% of the population. And for those in the age category of 65 and above, falling incidents are at 25 percent. There were 3.9 million emergency room visits due to vertigo or dizziness in the year 2011.

According to the Swedish National Study on Aging and Care, for those under the age of 80, falls were at 16.5 percent and dizziness was at 17.8 percent. The numbers rose significantly for anyone above the age of 80, with falls being at 31.7 percent and dizziness at 31 percent. The reasons for older people’s falls tend to be more general, while younger people have more of a clear reason for their fall.

To learn more about the connection between head and neck injuries and vertigo, download our complimentary e-book by clicking the image below.

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Conditions Associated with Dizziness

The most common reason for disability worldwide is mild hearing loss. Approximately 25 percent of those age 25 years and below, experience hearing loss. For those beyond 40 years of age, about 40 percent of people experience it.

An interesting piece of information about vertigo, dizziness, and hearing loss are that they are often symptoms related to Meniere’s disease. This condition involves a disorder of the inner ear that interrupts healthy function of the central nervous system.

Migraines are another condition that can cause dizziness and are far more common than Meniere’s disease. Nearly 40 percent of migraine sufferers also have vertigo, mild hearing loss, and motion sickness. It can be difficult to figure out which one is the cause of the dizziness.

Some other causes of vertigo include:

BPPV - benign paroxysmal positional vertigo
Immune-mediated inner ear disease
A vestibular migraine or migraine-associated vertigo
Vestibular neuronitis
Demyelination
Brainstem or cerebellar vascular lesions
Acoustic tumors

Determining What Kind of Dizziness You Have

When patients come to their doctor with complaints of dizziness, they will usually be asked questions to come up with a detailed patient history, as well as completing a neurotologic examination. The patient’s history is imperative for an accurate diagnosis, so you should list which symptoms you are experiencing, how long they last, possible triggers, and what reduces the triggers. It is also a good idea to use other descriptors aside from the word dizzy since this term is rather general and can mean a number of different sensations. Here are a few examples of ways to get more in depth when describing your experiences of dizziness. For example, “I feel unsteady, as though the world is spinning”, “I feel weak all over”, “I feel as though I am falling down often”, “I feel like passing out”, or “I feel off balance.” Being specific as much as possible will help your doctor accurately diagnose you.

Here is why specificity is so relevant. Dizziness could be caused by a malfunction in the central nervous system, systemic or cardiovascular disease, and can involve such things as:

Feeling light-headed
Motion intolerance
Imbalance
Unsteadiness
A floating or tilting sensation

Vertigo may be the result of issues in the vestibular system, often related to an inner ear problem. Vertigo may include the false sensation of movement or spinning. The length of your vertigo episodes is an important detail to include when speaking with your doctor.

Episodic vertigo that lasts only a few seconds and occurs from head movement in a certain position probably means you have BPPV.
Episodic vertigo that lasts for days and also includes symptoms of nausea may be caused by vestibular neuronitis, especially if you have had a recent virus.
Vertigo that is associated with ear symptoms, like congestion and tinnitus, and lasts for a few hours is more than likely due to Meniere’s disease.
Vertigo that is sudden and as brief as a few minutes could be from a migraine, or brain or vascular disease.

Natural Relief Care That Brings Relief from Dizziness and Vertigo

An interesting study that was conducted in the private practice of an upper cervical chiropractor highlighted some hopeful observations. She examined patients in an uncontrolled, nonrandomized environment for an eight-year period. There were 60 patients who had all been diagnosed with vertigo or dizziness of some kind or another. After putting together their medical history, it was found that 56 of them reported at least one head or neck trauma before their vertigo or dizziness diagnosis. A few examples of the kinds of traumas reported were car accidents, sporting accidents (skiing, horseback riding, cycling), or falls down stairs or on icy pavement.

After taking a closer look at the upper cervical spine, using imaging and radiography, it revealed that all 60 had a misalignment or subluxation in the bones of the upper neck, specifically the C1 or C2 vertebra. Once the severity and exact location of the misalignment was established, each participant of the study received upper cervical care designed for their specific needs for a 1- to 6-month period. The outcomes were incredible! There were 48 patients who had a total resolution of their symptoms. The other 12 stated they had a major improvement in the intensity and frequency of their vertigo episodes.

Here at Crowder Specific Chiropractic in McKinney, Texas, our technique is similar to what was used in the above-mentioned study. Our vertigo chiropractor in McKinney uses a gentle and precise technique that does not require twisting or forcing the spine in order to get results. Instead, our method encourages the bones of the neck to return to their proper place naturally and hold in place longer. Many times, this is all that is necessary for patients to experience progress with their dizziness.

To schedule a complimentary consultation with Dr. Crowder, call our McKinney office at 972-449-5845. You can also click the button below.