Can Chiropractic Management Eliminate Balance Challenges?
Santa Barbara Chiropractor: 10 Most Frequent Questions
Controlling and keeping body position while staying still or moving is the essential function of good balance. Good balance helps a person to walk without wobbling, arise from a sitting position without tottering, and to climb stairs without slipping.
Balance challenges are regularly reported by 9 percent of adults, aged 65 and older. Good balance is essential in assisting an older person to stay independent, and implement daily chores and activities. Dizziness, “wooziness,” and problems with balance are experienced by a large majority people as they grow older.
The sensation by many that they, themselves, or objects are spinning is known as “vertigo.” About 40 percent of people nationwide will experience dizziness that is serious enough to go to a doctor. And, among older adults, falls are the prevailing cause of extreme injury and deaths.
Balance and Inner Ear Problems
Three types of balance disorders that are most prevalent are benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, labyrinthitis, and Meniere’s disease, but there are quite a few other kinds of balance disorders. Of these three, benign paroxysmal positional vertigo is the most prevalent. Its symptoms involve a brief, intense experience of vertigo with a change in head position, when rolling over to the left or right in bed or when getting out of bed, or when looking up for something on a high shelf. This problem is more likely to happen in persons 60 and older, but it can also take place in younger individuals.
The reasons for benign paroxysmal positional vertigo are diverse. Inner ear infection, head injury, or simply aging can cause the problem. Frequently times a simple Epleys procedure can eliminate the condition, though it can be linked to other disease processes. Your Santa Barbara Chiropractor has many years of experience in this procedure.
Labyrinthitis is an infection or iirritation of the inner ear that creates dizziness and loss of balance. It affects adults of any age and the cause is unknown.
Ménière’s disease is a balance disorder that produces vertigo, hearing loss that comes and goes, tinnitus (ringing or roaring in the ears), and a “full feeling” in the ear.
Age is not the only reason these conditions arise, but older individuals are more likely to experience balance disorders. Depending on the reason for the balance disorder, treatment will vary. A chiropractor is highly skilled in discovering and treating a large majority of the causes. On occasion, even simple exercises for vestibular rehab can be the solution to balance challenges. Call a health care professional, such as your Santa Barbara Chiropractor, if you have encountered, or are currently experiencing, dizziness, vertigo, or other challenges with balance.
Not every balance disorders are created by complications in the inner ear. Some may be associated with other areas of the body like the brain or heart. Other components, in addition to aging and ear infection, may involve head injury, certain medicines, challenges with blood circulation, upper respiratory infections, viral infections, stress, fatigue, smoking, alcohol use, stroke, high or low blood pressure, and heart disease.
Balance disorders created by high blood pressure can normally be managed by less sodium intake,maintaining a healthy weight, and exercise. To assist in making the symptoms of dizziness less intense, generally eating low-salt or salt-free foods, and staying away from caffeine and alcohol, will help.
Balance disorders are serious. It is the number one cause of falls and fall-related injuries in older people. It is extremely important to have a possible balance disorder analysed and treated as soon as possible.
If you can answer “yes” to any of these questions, you should discuss the symptom(s) with your chiropractor:
• Do you have the feeling of being “unsteady?”
• Does the room seem to spin around you?
• Is there ever a time when you feel as if you are moving when you know you are standing still?
• Do you lose your balance and/or fall?
• Do you feel as if you are falling?
• Does your vision ever become “blurred?”
• Do you ever feel disoriented, or lose a sense of time, place or identify?
Don’t wait until it’s too late! Call your chiropractor today.