Treatment for cervical vertigo is challenging. Manual therapy is recommended for treatment of proprioceptive cervical vertigo. Anterior cervical surgery and percutaneous laser disc decompression are effective for the cervical spondylosis patients accompanied with Barré-Liéou syndrome.
Cervical vertigo is a treatable condition that usually goes away with physical therapy and inner ear exercises.
Advanced osteoarthritis in the area may lead to cervical spondylosis. This causes the vertebrae in the neck to wear down, which can put excess pressure on the nerves, arteries, or spinal cord itself. This could send inappropriate signals to the brain or block the flow of blood, causing vertigo.
While your doctor may be able to determine the cause of your dizziness, a neurologist has the tools and tests available to diagnose and treat whatever the root cause is.
Episodes of cervical vertigo go for hours, and the condition itself can last for years. Diagnosing cervical vertigo can be difficult. For one thing, some of its symptoms overlap with those of other medical problems, from inner ear issues to stroke to traumatic brain injury (concussion).
Vertigo and Chiropractic
To answer your question, yes. Two primary techniques are involved in aiding the body to heal so that the patient can regain his or her sense of balance. The primary tool is chiropractic adjustment. Chiropractic adjustment allows your nervous system to function at its level best.
Cervicogenic dizziness (CGD) is a clinical syndrome characterized by the presence of dizziness and associated neck pain. There are no definitive clinical or laboratory tests for CGD and therefore CGD is a diagnosis of exclusion.
In a general sense, vertigo-associated disease is commonly treated using vestibular blocking agents or VBAs. These include medications such as antihistamines (promethazine or betahistine), benzodiazepines (diazepam or lorazepam), or antiemetics (prochlorperazine or metoclopramide).
The most important features to differentiate vertigo due to cervical spondylosis from other causes of vertigo: recurrent, short duration, positional, and without nystagmus. It can be confused with positional vertigo-like Benign Positional Paroxysmal Vertigo, which is associated with nystagmus and severe in nature.
But for people who've experienced whiplash, concussions, or head trauma, the neck might be exactly the cause of their dizziness. Can a pinched nerve in the neck cause dizziness? The short answer is yes. And it's referred to as Cervical Vertigo or Cervicogenic Dizziness.
Often, tight neck muscles are a symptom of a wider condition that could cause dizziness or headache. These conditions—called cervicogenic dizziness and cervicogenic headache, respectively—are rare, as only up to 2.5% of the population have them.
Very small gas bubbles can form within your synovial joints (joints, including facet joints, that have a lubricating lining and fluid). When the bubbles collapse, they are released, which creates cracking noises in your joints. In this case, these cracking sounds can happen during your neck's natural movements.
The most common conditions are benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV), vestibular migraine, Menière's disease and vestibular neuritis/labyrinthitis. Unfortunately, each of these conditions can produce symptoms very similar to those of stroke or TIA, so careful attention to symptom details is required.
MRI is preferred over CT due to its superiority in visualizing the posterior fossa, which is often the location for a central etiology of vertigo. MRI will rule out acute and chronic ischemic disease, cerebellopontine lesions such as vestibular schwannomas and meningiomas, as well as multiple sclerosis.
Is vertigo a symptom of a brain tumor? Room spinning dizziness is a not a common brain tumor symptom and is more often related to an inner ear problem.
Physical Therapy for Cervical Vertigo
Physical therapists are trained to evaluate the musculoskeletal system and further evaluate cervical movements that can be triggering dizziness as well as pain. Often manual therapy treatments and vestibular exercises can help resolve cervical vertigo.
Neck crepitus is usually painless and typically does not represent anything serious. However, if crepitus occurs with other troubling symptoms such as pain or following trauma, it could indicate a more serious underlying medical condition is present.
A chiropractor can be your partner in qualifying crepitus and, if needed, combating the effects of osteoarthritis. For example, they can coordinate a low-impact exercise regimen. This is important for restoring soft tissue, ligaments, and tendons, to provide more support for joint structures.
Many experts recommend that you try and sleep on your back, as the crystals within your ear canals are less likely to become disturbed and trigger a vertigo attack. If you happen to get up in the middle of the night, rise slowly as opposed to making any sudden movements with the head or the neck.
Many people experience much success through this treatment option when delivered by trained massage therapists. In fact, massage therapy can not only alleviate the symptoms associated with vertigo, but it can also reduce the pain you may be experiencing due to headaches.
Chronic pain and stiffness in the neck that may be worse with upright activity. The sound or feeling of popping in the neck when moving. Involuntary contractions of the muscles (spasms) that cause pain or a loss of movement or headaches that start from the neck. Numbness and weakness in the arms, hands and fingers.
Arthritis, surgery, and trauma to the neck can also block blood flow to these important regions, resulting in this type of vertigo. Cervical spondylosis (advanced neck osteoarthritis) may be another potential cause of neck-related dizziness.