• Home
• About the Doctors
• Location/Hours
• Contact Us
• Massage therapy
• Fibromyalgia Solutions
• Migraine Headaches
• Veritgo Dizziness
• 7 Causes of Low Back Pain
• 7 Causes of Neck Pain
• Thyroid Hormones and Women
• Functional Nutrition
• IBS and Crohn's
• Peripheral Neuropathy

Vertigo, Dizziness and Balance Problems

Vertigo, or dizziness, affects millions of people around the world each year.  In a majority of the cases, vertigo is nothing more than a temporary inconvenience.  In some cases, vertigo is a debilitating condition.  Day-to-day activities are kept to a minimum due to severe dizziness.

In many cases, the area of dysfunction in the nervous system is the cerebellum.  The cerebellum is in the posterior aspect (back part) of the brain and controls our coordinated movements.

There are specific neurological tests that the we utilize to determine cerebellar function.  Standing with your feet together and eyes closed, the test is positive if the patient sways back and forth.  Other tests include, touching the index finger to the nose with the eyes closed, walking heel to toe, moving the fingers rapidly as if playing the piano, or touching all of your fingers to your thumb as fast as possible.  These tests and others are used to determine the function of the cerebellum.

Treatment of the cerebellar dysfunction may include:

• Unilateral (one-sided) Adjustments:  Extremities (arms and legs), lumbar (low back) and cervical (neck) spine will be manipulated on one side only to fire muscle spindle cells (muscle receptors) and joint mechanoreceptors (joint receptors) into the same cerebellum and opposite cerebral cortex (brain).  The thoracic (mid-back) spine will be globally manipulated to fire the dorsal columns (back part of the spinal cord) and reduce rib fixations.

• Eye Exercises:  Eye exercises may be used to increase the frequency of firing to the cerebellum and frontal lobe of the brain.

• Heat Therapy:  Heat therapy is used to promote an increased metabolic and healing rate to the involved tissue.  Increased heat helps increase activation to the brain.  Heat has immediate soothing and palliative effects as decreased joint stiffness, decreased muscle spasms and releases histamine and bradykinin causing vasodilation of the tissues.

 

One or all of the procedures may be employed to restore the cerebellum to its normal function.