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A lady feeling dizziness

Physical Therapy Can Help You Get Rid of Your Dizziness

“Thirty million older adults fall each year, resulting in approximately 30,000 deaths,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Every year, 3 million older people are treated for fall injuries. Every fifth fall results in a serious injury, such as broken bones or a head injury due to dizziness or vertigo and physical therapy is a non-invasive program that can help.

Physical therapy is a common and effective treatment for dizziness and vertigo. If you’ve been feeling dizzy or suspect you may be suffering from vertigo, contact Total Care Physical Therapy in Hillsborough, NJ today to make an appointment with one of our skilled physical therapists.

Why does dizziness and/or vertigo make it difficult for me to maintain my balance and how physical therapy can help?

Dizziness is common and has a variety of causes. Vertigo, on the other hand, is a little different. While dizziness is commonly associated with “lightheadedness,” which gives the impression of being unsteady, vertigo is usually a reaction to a physiological factor that causes a literal imbalance in your body. Vertigo sufferers have described feeling as if they are “rocking” or “spinning” even when they are sitting still.

Many factors can cause dizziness, including a lack of sleep, poor nutrition, overexertion, or an illness, such as a cold or flu. Dizziness can also be caused by something as simple as rising too quickly after a long period of rest.

Accompanying symptoms to dizziness may include:

  • Loss of balance
  • Lightheadedness/feeling faint
  • Impaired vision

The most common cause of vertigo is an imbalance in the inner ear, also known as the vestibular system. Your vestibular system assists you in maintaining your balance and center of gravity by sending movement messages to your brain. You may have the sensation that the world is spinning around you, that you can’t focus your vision, or that you can’t stand or move without losing your balance.

Vertigo is commonly caused by the following factors:

  • Meniere’s disease. This occurs when fluid builds up in your ear(s). This typically includes “ringing” sounds in the inner ear and sudden waves of vertigo that may last for hours. You may also experience momentary hearing loss.
  • Vestibular neuritis. This is an inner ear infection that can cause vertigo.
  • Migraines. Migraines are severe headaches that can impact your vestibular system, thus causing episodes, which may be coupled with sensitivities to light or sound. Vision may also be impaired.
  • Stroke. A stroke may affect the movement of your whole body. If you recently suffered a stroke, you may experience waves of vertigo which may linger for extended periods.
  • Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV). This is the most common form of vertigo and occurs when tiny calcium crystals in your ears break apart and move to parts of the ear where they do not belong. This can cause sudden spinning sensations (vertigo) and inner-ear discomfort.

Symptoms of vertigo may include:

  • Arm or leg weakness.
  • Difficulty seeing or speaking
  • Sweating
  • Abnormal eye movements
  • Inability to focus
  • Double vision
  • Nausea or vomiting

How can PT help me?

Dizziness and vertigo can both impair your balance, making it difficult to perform even the most basic tasks. Physical therapy for dizziness and vertigo can help regardless of the cause. We use some of the most cutting-edge techniques to diagnose and treat dizziness and vertigo.

The Epley maneuver, which allows canalith repositioning to move broken calcium crystals in patients with BPPV, and Cawthorne head exercises, which focus on decreasing nerve sensitivity and improving vertigo, are examples of vestibular rehabilitation.

Videonystagmography is a non-invasive test that records a patient’s eye movements using infrared goggles, determining how well the patient can react to visual stimuli responses sent by the vestibular system. This test determines whether your dizziness or vertigo is caused by a vestibular disease. It is the only test that can determine whether a person has vestibular loss in one or both ears.

Get back on your feet right away!

Physical therapy is critical for strengthening joints and learning the proper exercises for relieving dizziness and vertigo and improving balance.

A professional can assist you in developing a program that capitalizes on your strengths while improving your balance and reducing bouts of instability. To get started, contact Total Care Physical Therapy in Hillsborough, NJ today!

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