Vertigo and dizziness can disrupt your life, for hours, days or even long-term. Can a chiropractor help with vertigo? Let’s go into the causes and how chiropractic may be beneficial for you, along with stories of cases we’ve seen at Vitality Chiropractic in Rochester! 

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What Causes Vertigo?

Vertigo has a number of causes. Some causes may be serious medical conditions, however it’s often caused by issues centered either in the upper cervical vertebrae or in the inner ear. 

When the vertebrae of your neck are misaligned, they can put pressure on your brain stem and cranial nerves. Many of the things you don’t consciously think about happen in the brain stem, including regulating your heartbeat, breathing, digestion, and coordination with balance and nausea centers. 

This delicate area is encircled by the atlas, your first cervical vertebrae. When that donut-shaped bone is out of alignment, it creates pressure that reduces the brain stem’s function to varying degrees. This means the nerves don’t give the right input to the brain. A chiropractic adjustment helps remove that pressure.  

When vertigo is an inner ear problem, it’s called benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. The inner ear is also called the vestibular system, controlling your body's balance and spatial orientation. 

This vertigo is mostly a result of tiny objects or crystals that move around your inner ear when you change position. When they are out of place, you get the spinning feeling, vomiting etc. 

Ear problems can sometimes begin after an infection.

Vertigo may also be caused by high stress levels; when your nervous system is in this sympathetic “fight or flight” mode, chiropractic can be helpful to calm the nerves back to a parasympathetic “rest and digest” state.

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How Can Chiropractic in Rochester Help Vertigo?

Dr. Ed and Dr. Stacy have several ways to help different kinds of dizziness and vertigo, whatever the cause may be.

Chiropractic adjustment allows your nervous system to function at its very best. This is vital to life as your nervous system controls all the information sent to and from your brain. 

The spine encases the nervous system; we make sure the whole spine is in proper alignment using chiropractic adjustments. This opens and improves the communication between the brain and the body, including the ears and lymph system. 

This makes chiropractic particularly useful when vertigo is being caused by an ear infection to optimize your body for healing.

Other than our specific adjustments, we are also trained to do the Epley Maneuver to treat vertigo. This involves repositioning the head and helping the tiny crystals in the inner ear to move back into place. 

A 2013 study in the Journal of Manipulative Physiological Therapeutics showed that patients with vertigo improved under chiropractic care, specifically with the Epley Maneuver. (1)

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Real Life Improvement at Vitality Chiropractic

With both adjustments and the Epley Maneuver, our patients have had great success getting rid of vertigo!

After a bad sinus infection, one of our patient’s in her late 50s had severe vertigo. It was to the point where it was affecting her constantly and interfering with her job. 

After her first chiropractic adjustment, she said the vertigo was 65% better. This enabled her to lay down and get better sleep, which is so vital for the body to be able to restore and heal. 

After that, her vertigo continued to improve while under chiropractic care!

We’ve had so many cases of vertigo where a patient sits up and says, “Wow, it’s a lot better!” Other times it’s more persistent, requiring more care or to be examined by other healthcare providers. 

Read more in our blog post What Can a Chiropractor Help You With?

At Vitality Chiropractic in Rochester, we love being a part of your family’s health journey! We’d love to help you and your children achieve your health goals.