Millions of Americans suffer from vertigo that causes a dizziness and makes you feel as if you are spinning around when you’re not. It can also cause a sensation of falling or like you are losing your balance.
Experiencing vertigo itself can be troubling in its own right. But falling due to vertigo can result in mild to serious injury.
If you suffer from a specific kind of vertigo known as Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV), you can seek help from a physical therapist who specializes in the treatment of vertigo.
What Is Bppv?
Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV) is one of the most common types of vertigo that patient’s experience. Typically, in this type of vertigo, symptoms occur with head movement or a changing of position. The symptoms can range from being very mild in nature or severe, lasting from a few seconds to a minute.
Tipping your head up or down, looking side to side, lying down, or turning over in bed, sitting up in bed, bending over, or moving from sitting to standing can trigger BPPV.
The good news about BPPV is that it is common and there are treatment options available. BPPV typically affects older adults. In fact, 9 out of 100 older adults experience some form of this type of vertigo.
While the symptoms of BPPV can be mild in nature, the sufferer can also have severe symptoms. Beyond feeling like the room or your head is spinning, BPPV can cause:
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Loss of balance
- Falls
Although it’s uncommon to experience a serious medical condition as a result of BPPV, you should seek immediate medical attention if you have any of the following conditions/symptoms along with feelings of dizziness:
- Severe headache,
- fever,
- double vision or loss of vision,
- hearing loss,
- difficulty speaking,
- leg or arm weakness,
- loss of consciousness,
- falling or difficulty walking,
- numbness/tingling in the extremities.
You may have noticed that one of the most common symptoms of BPPV is also one you should seek medical attention for: falls. According to the CDC, approximately 36 million falls are reported annually among older adults. These falls have resulted in more than 320,000 deaths.
Hip fractures, broken bones, and head injuries are other common ailments that result for older adults slipping and falling. Whether they are a result of dizziness or not, the injuries from falls should be taken seriously.
This is where seeking the help of a physical therapist to treat your vertigo symptoms comes into the picture. Falls can be life-threatening. If you’re experiencing dizziness or balance disorders as a result of BPPV, or for any other reason, the help of a physical therapist specially trained to treat vertigo can make all the difference.
At Dosher, your physical therapist will meet with you to perform tests to help determine what is making you dizzy. Once the issues that are causing your dizziness or loss of balance are identified, you will work with them to devise a plan to restore your quality of life, resolve your vertigo symptoms, and decrease your fall risk.
Physical Therapists For Treatment Of Vertigo
The physical therapists at Dosher can help you manage your dizziness and balance disorders, which is especially important when it comes to fall prevention.
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For further information regarding vertigo/BPPV you may want to check out the following helpful web pages:
