The term "dizziness" can encompass several sensations, such as feeling woozy, faint, unsteady, or weak. If you suffer from dizziness, you can find relief through physical therapy. However, you need to first consult a medical professional who can identify the underlying problem. When a diagnosis has been made, your doctor could recommend physical therapy to help relieve your discomfort. If you are looking for an expert Las Vegas physiotherapist, you can get in touch with us at Suarez Physical Therapy.

What is Dizziness?

Most of us don't feel lightheaded when we stand up from bed in the morning, turn our heads to watch something go past us, or when we walk barefoot on a sandy beach. Even though we're not conscious of it, our bodies do have a system for tracking our position in space and maintaining equilibrium while we move around.

Our vestibular systems are made up of sensory receptors and position sensors found in our inner ears and the neck respectively. It serves as the center of balance and serves to keep you upright and in the proper position throughout space. Also, it assists in retaining your gaze on whatever you're looking at even while your head and body are moving.

You may feel lightheaded, dizzy, have tinnitus (ringing inside the ears), lose your balance, or have other symptoms when your vestibular system isn't working properly.

As you age, you are more likely to experience issues with your vestibular system. Vestibular injuries can also develop as a result of concussions, after having a cold or the flu, migraines, or for no apparent reason.

The term "dizziness" can refer to many different disorienting feelings. Dizziness is a problem with spatial orientation. Even though dizziness isn't necessarily indicative of a serious health problem, it could be unsettling when it happens.

Dizziness could be a sign of more serious illnesses, such as a cardiovascular problem or stroke. Dizziness can be harmful on its own if it causes a person to lose their balance and fall.

You can feel dizzy when walking, standing, or even lying down. You may have the following symptoms when dizzy:

  • Lightheaded.
  • Faint.
  • Unsteady
  • Nauseous.
  • Woozy.

What Distinguishes Dizziness From Vertigo?

Extreme vertigo can leave you feeling sick or leave you so unstable that you cannot walk or drive. When you have vertigo, you could feel like either you or anything around you is :

  • Swaying.
  • Spinning.
  • Floating.
  • Tilting.

Is Dizziness Common?

Dizziness is a common sensation for many people. About half of the patients who experience dizziness eventually visit their doctor. The likelihood that you'll experience dizziness increases with age.

Signs and Symptoms of Dizziness

Individuals who have experienced dizziness could describe it as one of the following sensations, including:

  • A distorted sensation of spinning or moving (vertigo).
  • Being unsteady or off-balance.
  • A sensation of faintness or lightheadedness.
  • A sensation of floating, feeling woozy, or heavy-headed.

Standing up, walking, or even just moving the head around could trigger or intensify these sensations. The dizziness could be sudden, intense, or both, requiring you to lie down or sit. It could also be coupled with nausea. The sensation could last a few seconds or several days and could recur.

What Causes Dizziness?

There are a lot of different factors that could be causing your dizziness, for example, inner ear disturbances, motion sickness, or the side effects of medication. There are times when an underlying medical problem, including poor circulation, an infection, or an injury, would be to blame.

Your symptoms and triggers can give you information about potential causes of dizziness. Your overall health and any additional symptoms you experience can also be used to determine the cause.

Issues With The Inner Ear That Trigger Dizziness (Vertigo)

Your vestibular sense or equilibrium relies on input from different parts of the sensory system. They include:

  • Eyes—they let you see where and how the body is moving in space.
  • Sensory nerves—they convey information about your body's postures and movements to the brain.
  • Sensors in the inner ears—serve as a back-and-forth motion and gravity detector.

The false perception that your environment is moving or spinning is known as vertigo. When you have an inner ear problem, your brain obtains messages from your inner ear that don't match the signals coming from your sensory nerves and eyes. Your brain tries to make sense of the confusion, which causes vertigo.

Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo or BPPV

When affected by BPPV, you may experience a sudden and disorienting feeling of movement or spinning. These fits are brought on by sudden changes in head movement, like when you roll over while lying down, sit up, or are hit in your head. Most cases of vertigo can be attributed to BPPV.

Infection

Extreme, persistent dizziness can be the result of vestibular neuritis, a viral infection affecting your vestibular nerve. There is a possibility that you have labyrinthitis if you've also recently experienced a loss of hearing.

Meniere's Disease

This condition causes an excessive accumulation of fluid inside the inner ear. It is defined by brief yet intense occurrences of vertigo that can last for several hours. Additionally, you can experience occasional loss of hearing, ringing inside the ears, and the sensation of having a plug in your ear.

Migraine

Even if they're not experiencing a severe headache, those who suffer from migraines could experience bouts of vertigo and maybe some other forms of dizziness. Such episodes of vertigo can continue for up to several hours and might be accompanied by headaches, and sensitivity to noise and light.

Circulation Complications That Lead To Dizziness

Insufficient blood flow to the brain might cause you to feel lightheaded, faint, or unsteady. Among the causes are:

Low Blood Pressure

Dizziness or faintness can occur temporarily if your systolic level drops significantly. That can happen when you sit up or stand up too fast. This is sometimes referred to as orthostatic hypotension.

Blood circulation problems.

Dizziness could be brought on by conditions including cardiomyopathy, heart attacks, heart arrhythmias, and transient ischemic attacks. Also, a drop in blood volume could result in insufficient blood supply to the inner ear or brain.

Other Possible Causes of Dizziness

Dizziness could be caused by:

Neurological Disorders

Progressive instability can be a symptom of certain neurological conditions, including multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's disease.

Medications

Medications like anticonvulsants, antidepressants, tranquilizers, and sedatives could cause dizziness in some people. Specifically, blood pressure-lowering drugs could make you feel dizzy if they drop your blood pressure excessively.

Low Levels of Iron (Anemia)

Dizziness is just one of the indications and symptoms of anemia; other indicators include weakness, pale skin, and fatigue.

Anxiety Conditions

Some anxiety disorders can make you feel dizzy or lightheaded.  Some examples of this disorder are panic episodes and being generally afraid of outdoor spaces (agoraphobia).

Exposure To Carbon Monoxide

Poisoning from carbon monoxide has flu-like symptoms, such as headaches, dizziness, lethargy, upset stomach, nausea, chest discomfort, and confusion.

Reduction In Blood Sugar (Hypoglycemia)

Those who have diabetes and take insulin are more likely to experience this problem. Lightheadedness sometimes is coupled with sweating and a heightened state of anxiousness.

Dehydration and Overheating

You could have lightheadedness as a result of overheating (hyperthermia) or dehydration if you exercise in hot conditions or when you do not drink enough water. This is particularly true when you use certain heart drugs.

Risk Factors

Some factors that could raise your chance of feeling dizzy are:

Age

Medical problems that induce dizziness, particularly a feeling of instability, are more common in older persons. They also have a higher likelihood of taking drugs that make them dizzy.

Previous Episodes Of Dizziness

If you have had dizziness in the past, you will have a greater likelihood to experience it again.

Why Should I See a Physical Therapist for Dizziness?

If you're feeling dizzy, it could be related to a vestibular or an inner ear problem. Physiotherapists often focus on vestibular rehabilitation, a branch of therapy that aims to alleviate symptoms of vertigo and other potential balance issues.

Getting a patient moving again while also managing their vertigo makes up a large portion of a therapist's duty. The main techniques for accomplishing this objective are exercising and going about daily tasks.

Physiotherapists can offer crucial coping mechanisms that ease the discomfort of recovery. If certain household tasks or activities make you feel dizzy, knowing how to do them differently can help you avoid this feeling as much as possible.

Simple tasks that were easy before the vestibular condition could become challenging, causing exhaustion, and dizziness. A physical therapist can assist you to deal with a few of these problems straight away, getting you moving and restoring your productive life as soon as possible.

There are several forms of therapy for vestibular problems. The kind of exercise used is determined by the specific issues that an individual exhibits throughout the assessment. Some workouts are intended to help in improving balance, some to aid with the brain's ability to distinguish between variations in inner ear signals, and others are meant to enhance visual focus.

Moreover, general exercise is usually advised to enhance general well-being and physical health. The sooner you begin therapy, regardless of the underlying reason for your vestibular illness, the better. According to research, the inner ears and brain function best for recovery, or compensation, during the first few months of vestibular imbalance development. This time frame is ideal for rehabilitating a vestibular illness to offer the best chances of recovery.

How Your Physiotherapist will Diagnose Dizziness

When determining if physiotherapy is the appropriate course of treatment for your dizziness, it is often necessary to rule out the predisposing factors that result in dizziness and consider the benign reasons. A professional physical therapist will discuss with you your medical background, the causes, symptoms, and other recent developments in your lifestyle.

They would then examine how it's affecting your lifestyle and devise a treatment plan to get you back to work. The following will be done during your initial examination:

  • Conducting a thorough examination of medical history, signs, and exercise levels.
  • Examination of the risk factors associated with serious causes of your illness.
  • A physical assessment of the neck's structures and movements.
  • Tests of eye tracking.
  • Analysis of the head movement specifically related to the vestibular system.
  • Gait and posture analysis.
  • Physical therapy for dizziness.

The best part is that most balance and dizziness problems are treatable. Balance issues and dizziness are not signs of aging, by any means.

Your physiotherapist can run tests to figure out the cause of your condition and assess how likely you are to fall. Imbalance and dizziness are often caused by a variety of factors. Your physiotherapist could advise medical tests or a visit to the doctor based on the findings of your tests. They could also recommend a medical professional to you.

Depending on your medical assessment and your recovery objectives, your physical therapist can design an individualized treatment program for you. They'll concentrate mostly on controlling your dizziness and assisting you in resuming your normal activities.

During your recuperation, your physiotherapist will show you coping methods for your condition. They can ask you the following questions to help them build your treatment plan:

  1. Do specific household tasks or activities make you feel dizzy? Your physiotherapist can show you ways to execute these tasks in a different manner that will help reduce dizziness.
  2. Has it been challenging to do simple tasks? Do these tasks make you feel more worn out and dizzy? For you to resume your duties at your place of employment and home, your physiotherapist will assist you in overcoming these problems.

There are many physiotherapy dizziness treatments available. Your distinct plan will be determined by your unique challenges. Your care plan could include workouts to:

  • Enhance your balance.
  • Enhance the nerve system that connects your inner ear to the eyes so that it can stabilize your visual when you turn your head.
  • Help boost your entire well-being and physical health by increasing your flexibility, strength, and heart health.

What are the Most Common Vestibular Exercises?

Exercises for the vestibular system are intended to help people in controlling their vertigo, dizziness, and unsteadiness. These could involve motions of the head, eyes, neck, and body that isolate various parts of the system. The following categories of vestibular exercises can be prescribed by vestibular therapists for any person, or a combination of them, depending on their symptoms:

Improving Balance

This seeks to assist in enhancing your stability and balance to help you successfully carry out regular tasks like taking a shower or walking around the neighborhood or house. Exercises that fall under this category include balancing on one leg for a short time, taking a walk in a straight line for some minutes, and other moderately challenging activities.

Gaze Stabilization

This allows you to manage your eye motions and have better vision when turning your head. The most popular gaze stabilization workouts involve rotating your head from one side to the other for a short time while maintaining your eyes fixed on a particular letter positioned directly in front of you. A vestibular therapist may instruct you to slowly perform this workout at least three times daily.

Habituation Exercises

These are ideal for people who get dizzy when they're in stimulating environmental settings like a shopping mall or grocery shop, or when they're moving, especially while changing positions such as leaning down or making quick head movements. The theory behind habituation exercises is that it can be possible to reduce motion-induced symptoms such as dizziness by increasing exposure to stimulating stimuli like head movements.

What Kind of Physiotherapist Do I Need?

All physiotherapists have the training and practical expertise needed to diagnose and treat patients who experience imbalance and dizziness. You would want to take into account:

  • A physiotherapist with experience in handling patients with neurological issues or whose practice focuses on vestibular or neurological rehabilitation.
  • A physical therapist who has either finished a fellowship or residency in neurologic physiotherapy or has been designated as a board-certified clinical expert in that field. This professional is proven to have cutting-edge expertise that could help with your problem.

Tips for choosing a competent physiotherapist include the following:

  1. Get referrals from loved ones, friends, or other medical professionals.
  2. Inquire about the physiotherapists' competence in treating patients with inner ear issues when you call a physiotherapy clinic to schedule an appointment.
  3. Be prepared to provide as much information as you can about your symptoms, including what makes them worse or better.

How Can I Prevent Dizziness?

BPPV and vestibular-ocular dysregulation are difficult to prevent because their underlying source is unknown. To avoid the more significant causes of dizziness, you can adopt the following strategies:

  • Maintain proper hydration.
  • Improve your cardiovascular health by establishing and maintaining an active lifestyle.
  • Eat a healthy, balanced diet.

What Happens If Conservative Therapy Fails?

When conservative treatment for dizziness fails:

  1. Get the advice of a competent optometrist for more evaluation of your vision.
  2. Contact a doctor to rule out any probable illnesses or other health complications.
  3. Change your surroundings to reduce aggravating stimuli.

Find a Las Vegas Physical Therapist Near Me

Dizziness can significantly impact your daily routine and make it difficult for you to complete even the most simple tasks. However, you don't have to continue living like this. Suarez Physical Therapy offers a high rate of success in identifying and treating vertigo and dizziness. Our physiotherapists will assess your health and develop a treatment program that will take your concerns into account while also enhancing your stability.

If you're suffering from vertigo or dizziness, don't put off treatment any longer. Contact us right now at 702-368-6778 to book an appointment in Las Vegas.