Spanish
Korean
Vertigo and Ménière’s Disease Treatment Lakewood Ranch
Vestibular disorders affect approximately 39 percent of the Americans over 40 years old at some point in their lives. (1) Approximately 4 percent of the population suffers chronically.. Vestibular disorders can affect people in many ways and no two people have the same exact symptoms or triggers. Forty percent of the patients we take care of in our Sarasota based office suffer from meniere’s disease, vertigo, or mal de barquement syndrome. In this article we will discuss each one and how they can be related to a prior neck injury that’s impacting the brain stem and central nervous system.
By downloading the Digital Patient Chart mobile app you can better control your patient portal.
What is the vestibular system?
Your body uses sensory information through the eyes, ears, and joints in the spine to give feedback into the nervous system to coordinate balance. This “information” is sent via neurological impulses in the nervous system to tell the muscles to contract at the appropriate time to keep you upright and balanced.. If there is a disruption in the messaging, it can lead to a host of balance issues.
Meniere’s disease and your cervical spine
People who suffer from Meniere’s disease commonly have the following symptoms:
- Vertigo or drop attacks
- Brain fog
- Tinnitus
- Eustachian tube dysfunction
- Hearing deficits
Several years ago, a landmark study was published in the journal of vertebral subluxation research by Dr. Michael Burcon showing that the cause of Meniere’s disease is spinal misalignment in the upper cervical spine. Upper cervical spine misalignment from a prior injury can irritate the brain stem, located inside of the first cervical vertebrae and the bottom part of the brain. Dr. Burcon found that the average person suffering with Meniere’s disease had a trauma on average 12.5 years prior to the onset of their Meniere’s. What he also found was by correcting the upper cervical spine in over 90 percent of the cases they found resolution or marked relief. (2)
If you suffer and have not been to a well-trained upper cervical chiropractor, you should pay them a visit. In our clinics over the past 22 years, we have seen hundreds of cases regain functionality and joy back in their lives because they are able to function and do activities that were not possible before care.
The upper cervical spine houses a structure called the brainstem. Inside of the brainstem are many nuclei that control different parts of the body. One of those nuclei is called the vestibular nucleus. Its job is to coordinate sensory information from the eyes, the inner ear, and the joints in the cervical spine. Spinal trauma can misaligned any number of joints in the neck that can then aberrantly affect the vestibular nucleus through nerve pathways. The goal of the upper cervical procedure is to locate, analyze, and correct these spinal misalignments to ensure that the central nervous system can function optimally. If you suffer with Meniere’s disease or any other vestibular disorder getting your upper cervical spine checked and corrected should be on anyone Meniere’s patients to do list.
Vertigo and the neck injury and misalignment
Much like Meniere’s disease patients who suffer with vertigo is often related to upper neck injury. Patients with vertigo experience many different types of sensations that often get clumped into the category vertigo. The most common experience patients feel is the feeling of being on a boat. Other patients have attacks where they find themselves unable to function. Severe whirling sensations can occur, the persons eyes can rapidly move left and right, they can throw up and find themselves on the floor for hours. They often feel flushed and sweaty and for a first-time sufferer they often end up in the hospital because they feel like they are dying or having a stroke. Thankfully, while it can be a difficult experience, it doesn’t end in death, just discomfort and fear.
Because the upper cervical spine is intimately connected with the vestibular nucleus patients who undergo upper cervical corrective care usually respond beautifully to the care. Patients who have dizziness that occurs with bending the head backwards, or to the left or right only but not in other ranges of motion is an indicator that the joints of the neck are at the root of the vertigo. The joints in the neck give neurological feedback into the vestibular nucleus and misalignment, injury, and irritation to these structures can set off the vestibular pathways leading to a multitude of different sensation that vertigo patients experience.
If you or a loved one has come across this article and are not in the Sarasota area you can google upper cervical chiropractor near me to locate someone in your area or call our office and we would be happy to find someone in your area that can help!
References:
1. https://vortexpt.com/2015/09/vestibular-disorders-facts/#:~:text=Over%2035%25%20of%20US%20adults,some%20point%20in%20their%20lives.
2. https://vertebralsubluxationresearch.com/2016/06/02/health-outcomes-following-cervical-specific-protocol-in-300-patients-with-menieres-followed-over-six-years/
Leave a comment