Jason Day, a professional golfer, stumbled and fell to the ground during the 2nd round of the 2015 US Open. He was diagnosed with benign positional vertigo, the most common form of vertigo. Day came back and played the next round even though he was still suffering. He had previously withdrawn from another competition due to vertigo. So, what is vertigo?
Vertigo is the sensation that the environment around you is spinning, or it feels like the person experiencing it is spinning. This feeling caused Day to collapse. Benign positional vertigo is often triggered by something as simple as the way a person turns or positions his or her head. It may be tipping the head forward or back, when lying flat, turning over, or simply sitting up from a flat position.
Symptoms include such things as:
- Feeling dizzy
- Feeling like the person or things are spinning
- Nausea and/or vomiting
- Out of control eye movements (called nystagmus)
These can hit intermittently and may only last about a minute or less. Can anything help?
Treatment
There are cases where vertigo has simply gone away on its own. Physical therapy can help by using such things as Canalith Repositioning Procedure (CRP) or other procedures that are safe and effective. Prescriptions can be given to treat the symptoms of nausea, inflammation, or pressure in the ears, though they do not fix the underlying cause of the vertigo.
One area that has seen much success is that of seeking the natural care of an upper cervical chiropractor. The health and function of the spine and nervous system can be a vital clue to the cause of vertigo.
The brainstem is housed in the upper cervical spine, which sits at the very top of the neck. Nerves contained here help the body keep its orientation to its environment. A misalignment in this part of the spine can cause the signals of the nervous system to be read or sent incorrectly, therefore, throwing the person into an episode of vertigo. Once this is corrected, it is likely that vertigo symptoms may decrease or even disappear.
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