Anyone who visits a chiropractor for vertigo knows that the body perceives movements and maintains balance through the close interaction of several body parts. These include the ears, eyes, and the receptors attached to your neck joints and muscles. So, naturally, ensuring the optimal condition of these body parts can make a significant difference in your journey towards achieving lasting vertigo relief. So, you might find it helpful to look into promising tips like doing simple eye exercises.
Chances are, you have already come across eye exercises for vertigo relief. A chiropractor for vertigo or other healthcare professional might have mentioned it during your consultation. Alternatively, you might have read about it while researching how to cope with your symptoms.
So, do eye exercises work for vertigo sufferers? Let’s look into this matter in our blog.
Eye Exercises Work: A Quick Overview
Eye exercises are among the main components of vestibular rehabilitation therapy, a remedy that works wonders for vertigo resulting from:
- Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo
- Brainstem, brain, or other CNS (central nervous system) lesions
- Head injuries
Essentially, doing eye exercises help retrain the brain to adjust to situations that set off a dizzying spell or spinning sensation. They also make an excellent complementary self-care technique, especially when you seek other remedies like Upper Cervical Chiropractic.
Here are examples of helpful eye training movements you can include in your weekly fitness routine:
Gaze Stabilization
Helping your eyes refocus can help you send accurate signals to the brain, allowing you to avoid or lessen your spinning sensations. Here are the basic steps you must do to stabilize your gaze:
- Sit in a room free from distractions and hazards
- Raise one arm at a 90-degree angle and put your thumb up
- Focus your eyes on the thumb for 5 to 10 seconds
- Move around your arm but maintain eye contact on your thumb for another 5 to 10 seconds
- Repeat as many times as needed each week
Saccade
Horizontal or saccade eye training comes in handy in improving the coordination, accuracy, and precision of your eye movements. Here’s how you can do it:
- Place two subjects on the table and make sure they meet your gaze
- Keep them close together so you can shift your gaze from one object to the next without moving your head
- Look at one of the objects, then quickly shift your attention to the other
- Repeat the movements several times each day
20-20-20 Rule
Long work hours spent in front of the computer screen can do a number on your eyes. So, you might find it helpful to follow the 20-20-20 Rule. The rule suggests taking a break every 20 minutes by looking at an object 20 feet away for 20 seconds.
Palming
You probably know about the palming eye exercise if you do yoga. It’s a perfect way to cope with stress and limit exposure to bright lights. Here are the key steps to doing the exercise correctly:
- Find a comfy place free from noise, bright lights, and other vertigo triggers
- Sit with your back and cervical spine straightened
- Warm your hands by rubbing them together
- Place your hands on top of your eyes with the tips of your pinky fingers touching and making an inverted V shape
- Close your eyes and breathe deeply for 10 to 15 seconds
- Visualize darkness and fill your mind with positive thoughts
Explore Other Vertigo Relief Techniques
While vertigo attacks can come without warning, you have several options to work around your situation and manage your episodes. Besides doing the eye training exercises above, we suggest tapping into other well-established sources of vertigo relief, such as:
Upper Cervical Care
Regular visits to a chiropractor for vertigo can help you cope with spinning sensations, regardless if you have peripheral or central vertigo. The technique addresses brain signal transmission arising from displaced C1 and C2 neck bones with the help of careful chiropractic adjustments.
Limit caffeine and alcohol intake
Both caffeine and alcohol cause adverse effects on your vestibular system – the group of inner ear organs that work hand in hand with your eyes to maintain balance and detect movements. Hence, you might find limiting your intake of booze, coffee, tea, chocolate, hot cocoa, and beer helpful in curbing your symptoms.
Address the underlying cause of your vertigo attacks
Because vertigo attacks can indicate a plethora of health concerns, you might find it helpful to get a comprehensive diagnosis from your primary doctor. This will help you assess your risks, make helpful lifestyle adjustments, and find suitable oral medications or other sources of vertigo relief.
Finding Relief With The Help of a Chiropractor for Vertigo
It can be tricky to navigate daily challenges when you have constant vertigo. Hence, we suggest tapping into Upper Cervical Chiropractic once you are confident that the underlying cause doesn’t call for emergency care. A chiropractor for vertigo can look into your cervical spine to detect a vertebral subluxation and provide ample adjustments to dislodge the misaligned bones and release pressure on your nervous system.
Notably, the topmost neck bones can shift by a few millimeters away from the body’s central axis because of certain factors like:
- Neck trauma
- Head injuries
- Poor sitting posture
- Repetitive movements that force the head to tilt downwards
- Carrying a heavy bag or other items on one shoulder
Exploring this effective source of vertigo relief is a good idea, especially if other methods do not work for you. Alternatively, you can use it to complement other techniques to cope with your vertigo episodes.
Check out the Upper Cervical Awareness directory of chiropractic doctors to find a nearby practice and schedule your consultation.
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