Arlington WA Whiplash Injury Therapy and Vertigo

Some patients report dizziness or vertigo after an auto injury. There are four leading causes of this condition after a wreck.

Cervicogenic Dizziness

The most frequent cause of dizziness is simply because of neck trauma - or what's called cervicogenic dizziness. Your spine comprises thousands of nerves known as proprioceptors, and these nerve fibers tell your brain the position of your body. Proprioceptors are how you can control your body in the dark or with your eyes closed, and are an important part of how your body maintains balance.

In the event that your neck is sprained, the proprioceptors can be disrupted, and this important information is no longer supplied to the postural control system of your brain, resulting in vertigo.

Cervicogenic dizziness usually resolves itself with specific treatment of the damaged neck structures.

BPPV

Yet another type of vertigo is called benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, or BPPV. BPPV can be caused by violent movement of your head, as you might encounter especially during a car wreck. Your inner ear contains tiny calcium crystals called otoliths. As you move your head, these crystals move against nerve endings in your inner ear, sending information to your brain about the position of your head. During a violent motion of your head, these otoliths can actually be jarred from their typical location to other parts of your inner ear. There, they send signals to your brain that don't make sense, which causes confusion in your postural control system, and dizziness.

People with BPPV commonly report dizziness that appears when they position their head and neck in certain ways. Treatment of BPPV is accomplished with a simple procedure called the Epley Maneuver, which positions your head to move the otoliths back to their normal position.

Vascular Injury

The third possible cause of vertigo after a car crash is vascular injury. Sometimes, the arteries of the neck are injured, causing altered blood flow to the brain. This type of injury is often felt as a pain in the back of the head that becomes more intense over time, and it can be either on the side of the head or in the center. Sometimes the pain feels dull, and other times it might feel like an increase in pressure or a throbbing sensation.

This is an extremely serious type of injury and it's essential to seek medical attention right away if you have these symptoms.

Brain Injury

The fourth possible kind of dizziness is brain injury. If your head hit something during the collision or if the impact was severe, you can suffer a mild traumatic brain injury. If you suffered a brain injury, you might suffer with fuzzy thinking, confusion, vertigo, or memory loss after the collision. It's important that you seek medical attention if you have any of these symptoms.

Chiropractic is a well-known, reliable way to help people with dizziness, and we've been helping these types of injuries in Arlington, WA since 1990.

If you've been in a crash and have symptoms of back pain, Dr. Ernst is here to help. We can help pinpoint the underlying source of your problem and formulate a treatment plan to help you reclaim your health. We've helped many people in Arlington, WA recover from these types of injuries.

Call our office today at (360) 659-8464 for an appointment or for more advice.