When Vertigo Strikes: What Goes Wrong When Your Body Can’t Balance

Vertigo, the terrible feeling of having the world spin around you, is not actually a standalone condition.  Rather, vertigo is a symptom of many health conditions. Different diseases come along with vertigo of varying severity – sometimes the feeling is barely noticeable and vague, other times it can be so severe that it prevents a person from being able to balance at all.  Vertigo attacks can come on gradually or suddenly and last from just a few seconds or much longer.

Vertigo can be described in many ways:

• A whirling or spinning sensation when you’re not actually moving
• The feeling of being still and the world is spinning around you
• Lightheadedness
• Feeling like you’re floating or rocking
• The sensation of being pulled off to the side
• A sense of heaviness

Regardless of how vertigo presents in any individual case, it can be the source of much anxiety, loss of self-reliance, and can cause major disruptions in performing daily tasks.

How Does my Body Maintain its Sense of Balance?

When vertigo strikes and you feel like the whole world is spinning around you, your body has lost its normal ability to maintain its sense of balance.  When your body’s balance system is working as it should, there’s no reason to ever really pay much attention to it. However, when something goes awry and you find yourself unsteady on your feet, then balance becomes a big deal.  
To achieve balance, there is a constant feedback loop running that responds to sensory input and responds by correcting posture through motor control.  The components of your balance system include:

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• Muscles and joints - muscles and joints contain special sensory receptors that are responsive to stimuli such as pressure or stretch.  This sense is called proprioception, and the receptors in muscles, joints, and skin send signals to the brain to tell it where your body is positioned in space.  The proprioceptors in your ankles and your neck are among the most important – your ankle position tells your brain about the surface you’re standing on and if you’re stationary or moving, and sensors in your neck tell the brain which way your head is turned.
• Eyes - input from your eyes is a major component in your body’s balance system.  What you see gives the brain a lot of information about where your body is positioned in space and how it’s oriented relative to other objects.
• Vestibular system - within each of your ears are components that make up the vestibular system.  It’s your vestibular system that tells the brain how your body is moving. This is how you feel, for example, when you're riding in an elevator if you’re moving up or down.  The vestibular system relies on fluid-filled canals to detect movement and then send the appropriate signals to the brain about body movements. When the vestibular apparatus within each ear is functioning properly, symmetrical impulses are sent to the brain, allowing consistency in balance.
• Central nervous system - To stay balanced, there are pieces of input from all of the destinations mentioned above.  All of these signals travel over the nervous system and are sent to the brain to be interpreted to craft the most appropriate response in order to keep you balanced.  The major players in the central nervous system that process balance signals are your brainstem (which sorts signals), cerebellum (coordination center), and cerebral cortex (thinking and memory).  

Vertigo and Vestibular Disorders

The most common causes of vertigo have their roots in the vestibular system, which includes parts of the inner ear and brain that control eye movements and balance.  Vertigo can be one of the most debilitating symptoms of a problem with the vestibular system. Vestibular disorders are commonly caused by head or neck injury, environmental factors, genetics, or illness.  Some of the most common vertigo-causing vestibular conditions include:

• BPPV (benign paroxysmal positional vertigo) - calcium crystals that are normally embedded in the inner ear can come loose and migrate into the fluid-filled canals.  This disrupts the normal balance signals and can result in bouts of severe vertigo
• Cervicogenic dizziness - when a person sustains an injury to the neck, it can result in loss of balance, vertigo, and disorientation.
• Labyrinthitis & vestibular neuronitis - a viral infection can inflame parts of the inner ear and the nerve that conducts balance impulses to the brain resulting in vertigo.
• Meniere’s disease - an excess of fluid builds up in the inner ear, resulting in vertigo episodes, fluctuating hearing loss, tinnitus (ringing in the ear), and the sensation of fullness in the affected ear.
• Mal de debarquement - the feeling of movement, rocking, or spinning that persists after returning from an ocean cruise.

Vertigo Relief with Upper Cervical Chiropractic Care

Because it’s known that head and neck injury is one of the most common vertigo-provoking events, many vertigo sufferers are finding relief by having their upper cervical neck alignment checked and corrected.  A common cause can be identified in the many vertigo-causing conditions above. When the atlas, the uppermost vertebra in the neck, misaligns as a result of an injury it can cause a disruption in the way your brainstem can sort and process balance signals.  When positioned correctly, the atlas forms a protective ring around the brainstem. However, when it’s misaligned, it can cause irritation and inflammation that can ultimately result in vertigo.

At Upper Cervical Health Center Boise, we use state-of-the-art equipment to perform a thorough analysis of each of our patients to determine if an atlas misalignment is a factor that’s contributing to their vertigo.  If so, we use gentle, precise methods to restore normal upper cervical alignment. The body is then able to heal naturally, resulting in a reduction in vertigo and other symptoms associated with vestibular conditions.  If you’re tired of living in anxiety over when your next episode might occur, contact us to schedule a complimentary consultation to discuss the details of your case and how we might be able to help you.

References:
https://vestibular.org/about-vestibular-disorders/causes-dizziness
https://www.nhsinform.scot/illnesses-and-conditions/ears-nose-and-throat/vertigo

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