If you are living with frequent bouts of vertigo, one of the first things that you need to do is try and identify the underlying cause. In some cases, a doctor can help you to do this. Unfortunately, about half of patients with vertigo never discover what is causing this potentially dangerous symptom. When you don’t know what is causing your symptoms, you need to focus on natural relief that has the potential to help with few potential side effects. That is why our article will focus on natural alternatives, such as the Epley Maneuver, for vertigo. 

What Is Vertigo? 

The first place to begin is with a better understanding of what vertigo is. Some people think that this word is the same as dizziness. Other people confuse it with a fear of heights. However, vertigo is its own unique symptom. What is it?

Vertigo is the sensation that either you or the world around you is moving when this is not the case. It is a false sensation of spinning, tilting, swaying, or some other type of motion. If you want a better idea of what vertigo feels like, here are a few scenarios.

• You may feel vertigo after a day on a boat. If you still experience the rocking feeling for a little while after you return to shore, this is vertigo.
• As a child, you may have played pin the tail on the donkey. After being blindfolded and spun around, you probably still felt like everything was spinning. As a kid, this is part of the fun – stumbling around but still trying to walk straight. It’s not as fun when it happens unexpectedly as an adult.

While these are simple examples of self-induced vertigo, it gives you a better idea of what we are talking about. Maybe you bend over to tie your shoe, and suddenly the ground is coming up to meet you, or you sit up too fast in bed, and you have to lay back down because the room begins to spin. This is how vertigo often exhibits itself for adults. 

When Should You Try the Epley Maneuver for Vertigo?

The Epley Maneuver can be a successful approach when you are experiencing positional vertigo. This means that the onset of vertigo usually has something to do with moving your head. The two examples we gave above of sitting up or bending over are cases of positional vertigo. 

While not all cases are the same, sometimes, positional vertigo is related to canlithiasis. This occurs when loose crystals in the inner ear canals (otoconia) break free from the membrane of the ear canal. When you move your head, this loose calcium crystal floats around for a few seconds, and that causes vertigo until it settles down. 

The Epley Maneuver was designed to get these crystals back into the right position faster. This lessens the amount of time that vertigo occurs. Also, if the problem was a crystal that moved to the wrong location, resetting it may stop your bouts of vertigo altogether by getting the particle back into the correct canal. 

In reality, there are no side effects of performing this maneuver, so it is worth a shot. In the worst case scenario, it just doesn’t help, but it won’t hurt anything, 

Performing the Epley Maneuver 

Depending on your age and health, you may need the assistance of a doctor or chiropractor the first time you perform the Epley Maneuver. There are six positions that you have to go through to complete the exercise.

1. Sit up straight on a bed or couch and turn your head toward the ear with the problem at a 45-degree angle. 
2. Lay down and hang your head over the edge of the bed or couch. You should still have your head tilted to the side but now also backward at a 30-degree angle. 
3. Rotate your head a full 90-degrees from the wide of your vertigo to the other side.
4. Maintain your head position but roll up from your back onto your side. 
5. Rotate your head to face toward the ground at a 45-degree angle.
6. Now sit up while maintaining this head position.

Now you see why most people have to do this with a doctor. Once you learn the steps, you may be able to do the process on your own or with the help of a family member. However, if the first maneuver fixes your problem, you may not have to do it again anyway. That is obviously the optimal result.

Additional Natural Help for Vertigo Is Available 

Besides the Epley Maneuver, is there anything else that you can do for vertigo that all-natural and shouldn’t cause any side effects? Yes! Upper cervical chiropractic care has helped some patients to overcome vertigo in case studies, and we want to try and help you to get the same results. For example, in one study of 60 patients, 80% were complete vertigo free after upper cervical misalignments were corrected, and the rest saw reduced frequency and severity of their attacks. 

If you are experiencing vertigo repeatedly, especially if you have a history of head or neck trauma, you are a good candidate for this specific type of chiropractic care. To learn more, contact a practitioner in your area. You can find one of our preferred doctors by using the search feature on this website. We hope that upper cervical chiropractic can help you to break free from vertigo for good!

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