Are you feeling Dizzy?

Did you know that the neck has up to 250 muscle spindles per gram of muscle? To give you a comparison, your thumb has 16 muscle spindles per gram of muscle (believe it or not, the thumb is considered to be a very sensitive area!)

This fact, while interesting, is important to grasp. It signifies to us that the neck is an important sensory organ in our body. Reduced neck movement, dysfunctional neck joints, altered neck muscle structure/control and even psychological issues (stress, anxiety etc) can all contribute to disrupted neck function.

Therefore, knowing how sensitive it is, if there is even slight disturbance in our neck function, it could cause associated dizziness/unsteadiness, visual disturbances, tinnitus (ringing in the ears), reduced head movement control, reduced eye movement control and reduced postural stability.

Evidence suggests that if your dizziness is the result of dysfunction in the neck, treatment targeted towards this area (such as manual therapy and neck muscle strengthening) is beneficial to improve dizziness.

If you experience dizziness, and all other potential causes have been cleared by medical/allied health professionals, your neck could be the culprit!