Honolulu Chiropractor

Controlling and preserving body position while staying still orin motion is the most crucial function of good balance. Good balance helps someone to walk without staggering, arise from a sitting position without falling, and to climb stairs without slipping.

Nearly 9 percent of adults, age 65 and older, disclose having challenges with balance. Good balance is essential in aiding an older person to stay independent, and implement daily chores and activities. Dizziness, “wooziness,” and challenges with balance are suffered by quite a few people as they age.

The label, vertigo, applies to the experience that some people have that they, themselves, or their environment is spinning. About 40 percent of individuals in the U.S. will encounter dizziness that is consequential enough to go seek medical assistance. And, among older adults, falls are the leading cause of extreme injury and deaths.

Balance and Inner Ear Conditions

There are a variety of balance disorders. Three customary types are benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, labyrinthitis, and Meniere’s disease. Of these three, benign paroxysmal positional vertigo is the most common. Its symptoms involve a brief, intense feeling of vertigo with a change in head position, when rolling over to the left or right in bed or when getting out of bed, or when looking up for an object on a high shelf. This condition is more likely to happen in individuals 60 and older, but it can also take place in younger individuals.

There are an assortment of causes for benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. Inner ear infection, head injury, or simply aging can create the problem. Whereas it can be linked to other disease processes, frequently a simple Epleys procedure can correct the affliction. Your Honolulu Chiropractor has many years of experience in this procedure.

Labyrinthitis is an infection or iagitation of the inner ear that produces dizziness and loss of balance. It affects adults of any age and the cause is unknown.

Ménière’s disease is a balance disorder that causes vertigo, hearing loss that comes and goes, tinnitus (ringing or roaring in the ears), and a “full feeling” in the ear.

Though those over 65 years are more likely to encounter balance disorders, age is not the only cause for why these problems occur. Depending on the cause of the balance disorder, care will vary. A chiropractor is well-trained in diagnosing and treating a large majority of the causes. On occasion, even simple exercises for vestibular rehab can be the remedy to balance challenges. Consult a health care professional, such as your Honolulu Chiropractor, if you have encountered, or are currently experiencing, dizziness, vertigo, or other problems with balance.

While some balance disorders are produced by challenges in the inner ear, other disorders may involve another region of the body, such as the brain or the heart. Head injury, stroke, certain medicines, circulation challenges, upper respiratory infections and other viral infections, stress, fatigue, smoking, alcohol use,  high or low blood pressure, and heart disease are all factors that, along with aging and ear infection, may produce balance disorders.

Balance disorders produced by high blood pressure can usually be managed by less sodium intake,maintaining a healthy weight, and exercise. To assist in making the symptoms of dizziness less intense, frequently eating low-salt or salt-free foods, and staying away from caffeine and alcohol, will help.

Balance disorders are dangerous. It is the number one cause of falls and fall-related injuries in older people. It is crucial to have a suspected balance disorder analysed and treated as soon as possible.

If you can answer “yes” to any of these questions, you should discuss the symptom(s) with your chiropractor:

• Do you have the feeling of being “unsteady?”

• Does the room seem to spin around you?

• Is there ever a time when you feel as if you are moving when you know you are standing still?

• Do you lose your balance and/or fall?

• Do you feel as if you are falling?

• Does your vision ever become “blurred?”

• Do you ever feel disoriented, or lose a sense of time, place or identify?

Don’t wait until it’s too late! Call your chiropractor today.

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