Can my dizziness be relieved?
On her initial visit to my chiropractic office, a patient asked if I could relieve her dizziness. She had been in a car accident and suffered whiplash injuries to her neck. While I can never promise a cure, I told her that if we worked together as a team, we had a very good chance of improving her condition. This article will discuss how dizziness can develop when a neck injury occurs, how chiropractic care can help, and recent research supporting the efficacy of chiropractic treatment for this problem.
When a person sustains an accidental neck injury, whether from a car accident, fall, blow to the head, or other traumatic event, many symptoms can occur. Of all the symptoms, dizziness can be the most worrisome to a patient because it can limit their ability to move around in their daily routines.
Our balance is primarily a function of three areas of the body that provide sensory input. The first is our eyes. We all know that if we close our eyes, we lose a certain sense of balance. The second area is the balance mechanism of our ears. This is called the vestibular system. You may have had the experience of being submerged for a brief period in cold water, and then experiencing some short-term dizziness and imbalance when you came out of the water. That was because the vestibular system of the ear was affected by the coldness of the water. The last area that provides balance sensory input is the joints of the body. The joints in the feet, hips, and upper neck, especially, send balance information to our brain.
In a traumatic neck injury, the spinal bones of the neck, called vertebrae, experience a whipping action that can cause abnormal misalignments in position. This is how the term “whiplash” was coined. It’s more of a layman’s term than a medical description. Misalignment of the vertebrae can cause significant neck pain, but because the joints provide sensory balance information to the brain, dizziness can also be an accompanying symptom of a whiplash injury.
In 2019, a research study was conducted in which gentle and safe chiropractic realignment treatments were administered to 86 patients suffering from chronic dizziness due to neck trauma. The patients participating in the group experienced an improvement in their dizziness and in their balance. The authors of the treatment concluded that chiropractic care was beneficial for dizziness from whiplash.
Chiropractors are trained to evaluate neck injuries. On an initial visit to a doctor of chiropractic, a patient can expect to be asked questions about the type of trauma that occurred and what symptoms she is experiencing. Next, a chiropractor will perform an examination of the neck area. Objective tests that detect muscle spasms, swelling and inflammation, loss of range of motion, abnormal alignment, and lack of proper movement of the cervical vertebrae and joints are usually examined. X-rays of the neck are usually obtained to further inspect for trauma.
Once the chiropractor has thoroughly evaluated the patient’s injuries, it can be determined if chiropractic care is appropriate. When this is the case, the chiropractor will use gentle and safe chiropractic adjustments to realign and restore proper motion to the vertebral joints of the patient’s cervical spine. Specific exercises to increase flexibility and improve strength in the area can also be of great help to the patient. The use of therapeutic measures, such as repetitive applications of cold packs to the neck, by the patient can also relieve pain and speed healing.
I can happily report that the patient who came to me hoping for an improvement in her dizziness experienced a complete elimination of her condition. Her balance problems were completely resolved and she was able to carry out her daily activities without problems. If patients and their chiropractic doctors work together, with good teamwork, it is possible for the patient suffering from dizziness to have a good outcome.