Benign Positional Vertigo

Have you ever experienced dizziness or a spinning sensation with quick head movements?  Vertigo is an unsettling occurrence that many people have experienced.  Vertigos are also common symptoms after a collision or having a whiplash from a car crash.  If you suffer a brain injury, you may also experience difficulty thinking, confusion, or memory loss after the collision.  In order to understand why this happens, it's important to understand the anatomy of the inner ear.

There are 3 fluid-filled canals in the inner ear that help us to determine what position our head is in. Small hair cells are stimulated by movement of a calcified particle known as an otolith. These otoliths will move depending on head movements and send a signal through the vestibulocochlear nerve to the brain. This is where the brain interprets your head movement in space. There are some instances when one of these otoliths may become dislodged and become a free-floating mass in the canals. When this occurs, the calcium particle may stimulate a signal about head position change even when the head is not moving.  People often describe this feeling as if the room is spinning.

If you are experiencing these symptoms it's is important to have a chiropractic physician perform testing to determine if you have benign positional vertigo.  Your chiropractor may be able to use interventions and exercises for this issue, focused on repositioning the otolith out of the ear canal.