Is the world spinning or is it just your head?

Is the world spinning or is it just your head?

Do you ever feel like, you’re spinning when you roll over in bed or get up in the morning, or nausea or dizziness associated with movement for instance in the car or even a feeling of being off balance when walking? Does it make you wonder if it’s just you or is the world getting even more lopsided than before?

In case you do experience any of the above symptoms, you may have a problem with your vestibular system which is the balance centre located inside your inner ear. It is made up of 3 canals in each ear which detect movement of your head. When something goes wrong with these canals such as a viral infection in the inner ear, the system not working as well as you get older or misplaced crystals moving into one of the canals then you may experience:

• Vertigo is where you feel the world is spinning or that you are spinning. This can occur spontaneously or with movement.
• The environment may look like it bounces or shifts.
• You may feel nausea or motion sickness when you move around.
• You are likely to feel off balance and increase your risk of falling over.

Physiotherapists with special training can treat vertigo associated with an infection or aging with exercises to get the vestibular system working better to reduce the dizziness and improve your balance. You will be surprised at how effective the treatment can be at helping you with your symptoms so you can get back to the things you love.

If you have crystals in one of the canals, a trained health professional, such as a Physiotherapist can work out which canal it is and perform a series of movements to shift the crystals out of the canal.

Once the crystals are out of the canals the vertigo and nausea disappear. This is a surprisingly common problem affecting people usually as they get older with 20% of people over 60 being affected at some stage.

So if your world is spinning, now you know there is something you can do!

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