Experiencing Dizziness?
Experiencing Dizziness?
by Rosie Hoerr – Doctor of Physical Therapy – Solvera Health
Experiencing Dizziness?
It’s the time of year when the weather changes – goodbye winter and hello summer!
Although the change from cold to warm brings a welcome freshness, it can also bring on unexpected physical changes such as dizziness, which may involve losing your balance or waking up dizzy.
Dizziness can be caused by many varied health-related factors, including:
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- Vertigo
- Issues with blood pressure
- Stiffness in the neck
- Side effects of medications
- Problems with your TMJ alignment (jaw out of alignment)
- Post-concussion syndrome
A professionally trained physical therapist can help address your uncomfortable and inconvenient feelings of dizziness, and are skilled at identifying, diagnosing, and treating the cause of your dizziness and balance issues. They can offer treatments for a wide range of causes, such as vertigo, vestibular nerve hypofunctions, vestibular neuritis, and motion sickness. Many clinics use technologically advanced video goggles, a gold standard technique diagnosing peripheral vestibular disorders, which provides information for more accurate treatment.
One of the most common requests is to treat vertigo. If you’ve woken up in the middle of the night (or in the morning) with the room spinning and your stomach upset, you may be experiencing Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV), commonly called vertigo.
BPPV is a result of crystals in your inner ear getting into your semicircular canals where they do not belong. This triggers a reflex in your eyes that makes them spin. BPPV may present itself in several ways such as dizziness in the shower while washing your hair, getting really dizzy when you rollover in bed or when you first lie down flat in bed. BPPV can also cause you to lose your balance if you turn your head too fast. Besides being uncomfortable, losing your balance in any of these situations may be dangerous as they could lead to a fall.
Our physical therapy team at Solvera has helped many people suffering from dizziness related to a type of vestibular hypofunction that causes motion sickness. As part of their treatment, patients go through vestibular training, balance training, and different activities to build up the vestibular, balance, and visual systems to help decrease motion sickness.
As an example, we recently helped someone who has experienced motion sickness their entire life. As a passenger with motion sickness, car rides can be very stressful, if not simply boring! After treatment, they were able to read for at least 45 minutes in the car without getting sick, something they could never have done before. This allowed the client to look up directions and read maps, and even work while riding in the car. All without being sick!
The great news is: You do not have to be dizzy!
If you’re experiencing any symptoms of dizziness, such as uneasy vision or upset stomach, or are concerned that your balance seems off, our physical therapy team can help.
Call Solvera Health at 309-886-9172 or visit us on-line to request an appointment today.