When vertigo strikes, the world begins to spin, you feel unsteady, and nausea or vomiting creep in. Your neck might also feel stiff, painful, or tight before the vertigo episode begins. Is this neck pain connected? Is it a coincidence? Many people living with vertigo and dizziness might find themselves asking those questions quite often. Hopefully, we can help you to better understand the connection between your neck, your spine, and your vertigo. We will also explain a science-backed way of correcting vertigo that has its origins in the cervical spine (the neck).
Table of Contents
The connection between your head position and your body’s ability to maintain equilibrium has been understood for centuries. Balance is the ability to maintain the body’s center of mass over its base of support. When this sense is functioning as it should, it generally goes unnoticed. However, when you have a condition that causes vertigo, it affects what would normally be basic activities of daily living. For example, walking down your driveway to check the mail or safely driving to work.
When your head is not in its correct, neutral position it can trigger ongoing vestibular dysfunction, dizzy spells, and vertigo attacks.
The balance information received from all of the sources (the eyes, the vestibular system, and the proprioceptive sensors from the muscles and joints) then enters the brainstem. The brainstem is an extremely important part of your body’s central nervous system (CNS). It acts as a hub and a switchboard for the nerve signals traveling between the body and brain. When balance signals reach the brainstem, they are sorted and combined with other information from different parts of the brain in order to make the appropriate adjustments to body position to maintain your balance. You may have perfectly normal input from all of the sources that gather information about balance, but if the brainstem fails to interpret them correctly, then vertigo will ultimately be the result.
If you are living with symptoms of vertigo that come along with neck pain and headaches, it is worthwhile to have your neck examined by an upper cervical chiropractor. This is particularly relevant to vertigo sufferers with a history of head or neck injury. Upper cervical chiropractic is a subspecialty that focuses on the vertebra that forms the junction between the head and neck – the atlas (C1).
The goal of upper cervical chiropractic care is to restore normal atlas alignment. By doing so, it returns the normal head position and brainstem function. Upper cervical chiropractors do it in a very precise manner. Prior to any adjustment, they perform a thorough exam and analysis which includes detailed diagnostic imaging. Based on these images which are naturally different from person to person, they customize an adjustment for each individual.
This highly detailed and personalized level of care allows for adjustments that are extremely gentle and don’t require any of the twisting or popping that is normally associated with a chiropractic adjustment. Once normal head and neck alignment are accomplished, the goal is to be able to hold that adjustment for as long as possible, giving your body the time it needs to heal optimally. This has helped many vertigo sufferers to reduce or even rid themselves of symptoms and return to a full quality of life.
References:
https://vestibular.org/cervicogenic-dizziness
https://vestibular.org/sites/default/files/page_files/Documents/Human%20Balance%20System_36.pdf
TV show host Montel Williams describes how specific chiropractic care has helped his body.
The content and materials provided in this web site are for informational and educational purposes only and are not intended to supplement or comprise a medical diagnosis or other professional opinion, or to be used in lieu of a consultation with a physician or competent health care professional for medical diagnosis and/or treatment. All content and materials including research papers, case studies and testimonials summarizing patients' responses to care are intended for educational purposes only and do not imply a guarantee of benefit. Individual results may vary, depending upon several factors including age of the patient, severity of the condition, severity of the spinal injury, and duration of time the condition has been present.