Preventing Vertigo: Tips and Strategies
A Few Simple Steps To Help Keep You Steady
Is your world spinning–even if you’re standing still? For people with vertigo, that sentence isn’t just poetry but the reality of a vertigo attack. While vertigo is usually benign in and of itself, frequent attacks can increase your risk of falling and affect your overall quality of life. At Physio For Life, we can help you with preventing and managing your vertigo so you can live a full, happy life.
Although vertigo is often used interchangeably with dizziness, it’s not a one-to-one synonym. Dizziness is an umbrella term generally referring to feelings of unsteadiness, wooziness, or lightheadedness. Vertigo describes a type of dizziness in which you feel like you or your surroundings are spinning.
Vertigo isn’t an illness or condition unto itself but rather a symptom of various conditions or impairments affecting your vestibular system–the canals of your inner ear responsible for controlling balance. Managing vertigo often involves identifying triggers and adjusting your movements accordingly. In addition, certain exercises can help reduce the risk of vertigo attacks.
If the idea of managing your vertigo on your own feels intimidating, the physiotherapists at Physio For Life can help. We can help you identify the source of your vertigo and provide detailed strategies to prevent an attack. Schedule an appointment at our (town) clinic to learn more!
Five Tips for Preventing Vertigo
Identify the Cause: Because vertigo is a symptom, not a condition, the first step in managing it is understanding what causes it. Broadly speaking, vertigo stems from issues with your inner ear–the trick is determining which one.
One thing to consider is whether or not you’re experiencing any additional symptoms, such as nausea and vomiting, tinnitus (ringing in your ear), or hearing loss. The other is carefully tracking vertigo triggers, such as specific head movements. Our physiotherapists can help you make sense of your symptoms so you know what specific condition you may be dealing with.
Modify Your Movements: Another reason to identify vertigo triggers is that avoiding them is one of the easiest ways to prevent the sensation. For example, the most common cause of vertigo, BPPV (benign paroxysmal positional vertigo), consists of short, sudden vertigo attacks brought on by particular head movements. The condition is caused by crystal buildups in your ear, and head movements jostle those crystals, impairing your sense of balance.
If you can identify clear triggers, modifying activities to avoid them can help you prevent future attacks. However, this strategy doesn’t address vertigo at the source, so while it can help in the short term, seeking physiotherapy is the key to long-term relief.
Habituation Exercises: While avoiding vertigo triggers can prevent an attack, sometimes embracing them is the key to eliminating attacks altogether. Habituation exercises involve repeating movements that cause vertigo in an attempt to habituate your body to the sensation–thus reducing attacks.
It’s best to work on habituation exercises with one of the physiotherapists at Physio For Life. We can more accurately pinpoint the trigger movements and help you develop a progressive habituation program, slowly building on movements so you don’t do too much at once.
Get Repositioned: One effective way to prevent vertigo attacks for people with BPPV is to address them at their source–in this case, those pesky crystal buildups. Certain head positioning maneuvers can move the crystals elsewhere in the ear canal where they can’t impair your balance.
Our physiotherapists are trained in these maneuvers and can help determine the most effective ones for your condition. In some cases, repositioning maneuvers may even resolve your BPPV entirely.
Stabilize Your Gaze: In addition to causing vertigo, vestibular impairments can lead to gaze instability, in which you may struggle to focus on a set object. Vertigo and gaze instability often go hand-in-hand, so dedicated gaze stabilization exercises can often prevent vertigo.
Our team of physiotherapists will develop a gaze stabilization program based on your exact needs. Most of these exercises involve focusing and unfocusing your gaze or pinpointing objects on a visual field. We’ll walk you through each one.
Relax and Breathe: Even if you’re working hard on preventing and addressing vertigo at its source, you may still experience occasional vertigo attacks. One of the best things you can do in that situation is to close your eyes, breathe, and relax. Doing so in a dark room is ideal.
Our physiotherapists can help you manage your vertigo by providing relaxation strategies to help you handle a vertigo attack. Relaxing against a firm surface (such as a bed) can calm your nervous system and improve your posture, balance, and sensory input.
Want To Get Started? Book Your Appointment Today!
You don’t have to manage vertigo alone. The physiotherapists at Physio For Life can help you adopt these tips–and others–into your day-to-day life. With customized treatment plans tailored to your specific symptoms and conditions, we’ll help you find a solution that works for you.
Request your initial appointment today!