Did you know that one of the most important causes of dizziness is the neck?

Dizziness can be quite debilitating if it starts to affect your daily activities. Especially if you’re feeling dizzy getting out of the bed or in fact if you’re unable to even get out of bed because you’re so dizzy! Another term to discribe the dizzines is also vertigo. So let’s talk about what exactly it is and what can actually cause dizziness. People who have it  may describe that they’re moving or that the room is moving. Often describe this as a horizontal spinning sensation similar to the sensation you’d get when spinning on a swing and then abruptly stopping and the environment continues to feel like it’s moving around you. Sounds horrible doesn’t it? Although there are various different causes of dizziness which I’ll discuss shortly , the neck by far is the most common one in my experience.

Dizziness is basically caused by a mismatch between the signals that come to your brain from various other organs of the body namely the eyes, your joints and also the canals in the inner ear.  Now without getting too medical here, there are 3 different semicircular canals or tubes in the inner part of our ears. They are all immersed in fluid and have crystals in them. Because of a sudden injury or infection, these crystals can get dislodged and interrupt the signals that would otherwise reach the brain to maintain your balance. And this ends up causing dizziness. Usually the dizziness is felt mostly when changing a position for example, getting up out of the bed in the mornings. This is also called BPPV or Benign Paroxismal Positional Vertigo. The problem can either occur at this level i.e the ear level or sometimes higher up in the brain perhaps due to trauma or blood clots or tumour. I’m not going to talk about other causes in this article. But another big cause of dizziness is the neck! I must put a disclaimer here though. Because dizziness is quite a complex issue, please make sure you see a GP or a Physio to get diagnosed properly and try not going to Dr. Google instead. Our physios are well experienced in this and will be able to tell you exactly where the dizziness may be coming from and if more tests are needed.

Do you remember the signals I was talking about that tell your brain which position your body is in? These signals actually come from the joints of the neck. Interruption in the transmission of these signals due to inflammation from an injury or arthritis can lead to dizziness. A study published  by the National Library of Medicine show that this type of dizziness is also accompanied with neck pain and stiffness in the movements and headaches(not all the time). Again, it’s absolutely important to rule out other causes of dizziness first before blaming the neck as a possible cause. As I mentioned before, experienced Physios are equipped with the knowledge to diagnose the possible causes of dizziness and point you in the right direction. So if you’ve been dealing with chronic neck pain or stiffness, headaches and either you’ve just started feeling dizziness or have been suffering from it for a long time , then this is your chance to see a physio and get treated. It’s not going to be an overnight change but I can assure you that you’ll definitely feel the difference straight away.

Our physios are experienced in distinguishing the possible causes of dizziness whether it’s originating in your neck or the inner ear or perhaps the brain. Once we have established that it’s coming from the neck, our physios will do hands on therapy like joint mobilizations and deep tissue release to reduce the muscle tension and improve mobility of the neck joints. With improved mobility, there’s more blood flow to the affecteed joints which helps in reducing the inflammation around the joints. This will in turn with pain relief. We also then follow up with postural exercises to build up the strength in the muscles of the neck and upper back. This is the key to long term relief from dizziness. There are also specific exercises that our physios can show you to get used to the movement again and help with vertigo like symptoms. Our physios will also guide you on the daily strains that you place on the joints of the neck and how to minimize the strain if not completely avoid it. Things like checking if your workstation has been set up correctly is very important.

If you or someone you know has been suffering from dizziness, please contact us below to make an appointment.