Middleburg Heights, OH Auto Injury Treatment and Dizziness

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

The most frequent cause of dizziness is due to neck trauma - or what's called cervicogenic vertigo. Your spine comprises tens of thousands of nerves referred to 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.

If your neck is damaged, the proprioceptors can be disrupted, and this important information is no longer accessible to the postural control system of your brain, resulting in dizziness.

Cervicogenic dizziness usually resolves on its own with specific treatment of the injured neck structures.

Yet another type of dizziness is called benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, or BPPV. BPPV can be brought about by violent movement of your head, as you could very well undergo especially during a car crash. 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 usual position 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 often report vertigo that occurs when they position their head and neck in certain ways. Treatment of BPPV is done with a simple procedure called the Epley Maneuver, which positions your head to move the otoliths back to their normal position.

The third possible cause of vertigo after a car crash is vascular damage. Sometimes, the blood vessels of the neck are damaged, 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. Occasionally 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 important to seek medical attention right away if you have these signs or symptoms.

The fourth potential kind of vertigo is brain injury. If your head hit something at the time of the crash or if the impact was very bad, you can suffer a mild traumatic brain injury. If you suffered a brain injury, you might experience fuzzy thinking, confusion, dizziness, or memory loss after the collision. It's critical that you seek medical attention if you currently have these symptoms.

Chiropractic is a well-known, successful way to help men and women with vertigo, and we've been helping these types of injuries in Middleburg Heights, OH since 2001.

If you have been in a motor vehicle accident and have symptoms of back pain, Dr. Baker is here to help. We can help identify the underlying source of your pain and formulate a plan of action to help you reclaim your health. We've helped many patients in Middleburg Heights, OH improve from these sorts of injuries.

Call our office today at (440) 888-6979 for a consultation or for more information.