Can my dizziness & vertigo come from neck injury?
Vertigo and dizziness are often confused and used interchangeably, however, these terms describe different sensations and mean different things.
Dizziness is generally an off-balance feeling lightheaded feeling, whereas vertigo is a sensation your surroundings are moving, when experiencing vertigo, it’s hard to discern which direction is true, up is down and down is up.
Vertigo can be a sign of more serious pathology, particularly in the inner ear and balance centres of the brain.
Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) Meniere’s disease and vestibular neuritis are the most common pathologies that cause vertigo
Can Neck pain and injury cause dizziness?
Currently, theory suggests dizziness can be caused due to a mismatch between the sensory receptors within the neck. The neck musculature and joints are highly enriched with proprioceptive spindles which send information to the brain, when these receptors become disturbed by pain and dysfunction it can potentially cause dizziness. Furthermore, you need deep tissue massage & active-release technique.
Diagnosis through exclusion is currently the only reliable to correlate dizziness to neck dysfunction, after ruling out serious pathology. Such as stroke, brain haemorrhaging, and vestibular migraines.
It is thought Sustained loadings of the neck, from posture, whiplash injury, and cervical degeneration are all contributing factors to cervicogenic dizziness
What can a Chiropractor do?
Cervical manual therapy is the main modality and treatment for cervicogenic dizziness, the goal is to provide a stimulus to the area and restore normal movement through;
Cervical manipulation
Dry needling of upper neck muscles
Self-mobilisation strategies such as foam rolling
Exercises prescription of deep neck flexors and shoulder girdle
Balance and proprioception training
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