I love getting in the boat and going fishing with my father. Spending time on the ocean, outdoors with a slight sea breeze… there’s no better way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon.
The only problem, we’re not the best fisherman and our lines get tangled every time!
Sitting there trying to untangle the mess of fishing line. It’s not long before I start to feel a little queasy. Stomach churning, struggling to get a deep breath – you’ve got to love sea sickness.I know by jumping in the water or getting back to dry land it will feel better. I can’t imagine what it would be like to live with this constant dizziness all the time. Just ask someone with vertigo what it’s like. They’ll quickly tell you
‘Vertigo is one of the worst symptoms someone could ever have’
Question is…
Why does this happen?
Our brain does a lot of heavy lifting for us presenting a clear picture 100% of the time. Instinctively we rely on this clear picture of the world to allow us to scan our surroundings to keep us safe. These days it so we can drive properly as one example.
I want you to try this little trick…
Grab your phone, press record
Go for a 100 metre walk keeping your phone still
Play back the recording.
What you should see is that despite your best efforts the video starts ‘shaking’ or ‘tilts’ or is ‘uncontrolled’..
But, I’ll bet you vision and what you saw was smooth and controlled!
Interesting right.
Have You Experienced One of the Following?
After you’ve been looking at the computer screen all day and your vision is just a little bit ‘fuzzy’
Spin around 5 times and your world keeps spinning just a little more
Looking over a the edge of a cliff you get a disturbing gut feeling that you shouldn’t go any further
We can give all the wonderful credit to…
Our Vestibular System
It’s a nucleus in our brain which collates information from our eyes, our ears and our spine. Through reflexes and signals it allows them all to communicate and stay coordinated.
It really is fascinating…
As you tilt your head to the left, your spinal position tilts. Fluid gets pushed around in a certain way in the semicircular canals in your inner ear and thanks to your “righting reflex” we developed as infants, your eyes have no choice but to move so that they keep looking toward the horizon.
Pretty cool!
So when you go for a walk, you are shifting your body weight from left to right and back again forcing the spine to compensate. From there, yours eyes need to stay centred and the fluid levels in my ear need to correspond. That what gives you clear vision.
Back to my fishing…
To explain sea-sickness, you’re swaying on the boat. Your spine sways, your ear fluid sways, and your eyes must correct… BUT, what happens when we look down?
We see the stillness of the boat floor. The signals don’t marry up and your brain thinks there is something wrong. Your nervous system gets put under stress and you’re not as comfortable with your surroundings, so you go into fight/flight:
Your heart rate goes up
You need to breath more
Your body tries to get rid of abdominal contents
You’re see sick and the only way to sort that out is by getting those signals to marry up again.
But what if you feel dizzy on dry land?
The principle is the same…‘the signals don’t marry up’
Problem is figuring out why!
There are many types of vertigo, and I don’t want to go into what they are.. They all happen for different reasons. Commonly an infection/problem with the inner ear, but, it could be a problem with any of the three stimuli which feed into the Vestibular nucleus – your eyes, ears or spine.
Either way, someone with a balance or dizziness problem needs to have all three checked so that those signals can marry up again.
Have I helped patients with dizziness or vertigo or balance problems?
Absolutely! But not every one of them..
All I can do is assess the spine for dysfunction, restore it and teach your spine and eyes to cooperate again (with some basic exercises) – and most of the time, this helps!!
Either way, you should be looked at by an Ear/Nose/Throat specialist first.
Please also keep in mind, there are many causes for dizziness, some of which may be cardiovascular, respiratory, psychological and other neurological. Don’t make your own mind up.. It’s not a normal symptom and must be checked out.