Cervicogenic Vertigo/Dizziness

             There are so many causes of dizziness, and it is the physicians job to determine the cause and whether it can endanger the life of his patient.

            If the dizziness is persistent and comes with visual changes or severe headaches, a brain MRI may be needed to rule out brain tumors. Sometimes the vestibular apparatus in the ear, our balance mechanism, goes on the fritz, and causes vertigo, the sensation one gets when you spin around a few times, and then suddenly stop, and the world continues to spin around. Strokes/TIAs can cause these symptoms.

            Why does this happen? The brain depends on an equal signal from each of vestibular apparati in each ear to have an equal consistent signal. Any change in the signal in one ear makes the brain process what we see differently and the image starts to drift.

            What can affect the signal on one side?

            Brain tumors can, if they interrupt the signal pathway through the brain or any of the signal processing parts of the brain. Interruption of the blood supply to either side can also unbalance the signals, causing vertigo and dizziness. The dizziness can also cause nausea and vomiting, which is also very unpleasant. Factors that can interrupt the blood supply to the vestibular apparatus can include carotid disease, strokes, heart disease with congestive heart failure, to name some of the more serious causes.

            Or a simple “crick in the neck” can cause it.

            If there is a subluxation, a “crick in the neck”, at C1 where the head balances on the neck, that can be a little-known cause of vertigo. When the head is off balance on the neck, it shifts and teeters the head subtly on the neck, and there are small areas on each side of the neck called sulci, which can affect the blood vessels and nerves that supply our balance mechanisms (the inferior vestibular nerve and artery, for those who need to know the exact anatomical structures affected).

            Osteopathic physicians know this as a C1 or OA lesion, and it is fairly easy and safe for an experienced osteopathic physician to fix, and it offers potentially immediate relief of their vertigo. It is key that the patient relaxes for a C1 correction, so that less force is required to make the correction.

             I have developed very safe OMT procedures that are safe to perform, and easy to learn, in the members section of this site.