… Top Causes & How to Treat the Dizziness

Dizziness is one of the most common reasons why people visit their doctors. Ranging from feelings of lightheadedness or loss of balance to the sensation that your surroundings are spinning (vertigo), chronic dizziness impacts millions of Americans every year.

As one of the most frequent complaints made to primary care doctors, you would think this condition would be well understood, but in up to 80 percent of cases the underlying causes remain unexplained.[i] However, often the real cause of dizziness can be determined by what you were doing when it occurred.

If you are one of the many who often experience dizziness at work, for instance, long hours spent in front of the computer is the likely culprit.

How Long Hours in Front of a Computer Can Make You Dizzy

Sitting for long hours in front of a computer is not a natural state for the human body — yet it’s one that many of us have no choice but to adapt to. That doesn’t mean it comes without consequence, however.

Long computer work is an example of a repetitive motion that can strain your neck and back muscles — and this strain can lead to feelings of dizziness at work, or dizzy spells that occur at other times. This strain is heightened if you sit with poor posture using a non-ergonomic chair, or if you keep your muscles tensed and tight, with your shoulders hunched over or raised, without taking frequent breaks to stretch and regroup. It’s not only computer work that’s the culprit, of course. Any activity that involves long hours spent focused on one task can be problematic, such as reading, talking on a phone or working on a hobby project like sewing or model ship building.

Any area of your body that is over-worked is at risk for developing trigger points, which are “knots” in your neck, shoulders, arms or back. If left untreated, trigger points can become a center for irritation and inflammation in your muscles and nerves.

This ongoing inflammation leads to fibrosis, which thickens your connective tissues. Thicker connective tissue is less flexible, leading to a vicious cycle of additional irritation, tension, and pain as your body pulls on each trigger point.

Trigger points have been linked not only to chronic back pain, recurrent migraines, and even heartburn, toothaches and jaw pain, but also to dizziness and vertigo!

Tips for Treating Dizziness …

If you’re struggling with dizziness at work, it’s a sign you need to take more frequent breaks from your computer, as well as give some careful consideration to proper posture and a reliable, ergonomic office chair.

Next, you need to address the resulting trigger points, which may be related to your dizzy spells. You can go to a massage therapist, physical therapist, chiropractor or even a trigger point specialist to receive manual trigger point therapy, but the success of the treatment depends on the skill level of the practitioner — and well-trained trigger point therapists are very hard to come by, not to mention expensive.

The Trigger Point Self-Treatment System is a welcome alternative. Developed by a board-certified neurological chiropractor, the Trigger Point Self-Treatment System allows you to identify and then pressure massage your trigger points in the comfort of your own home by yourself — as often as necessary. In less than 10 minutes a day, you can feel relief you probably have not known for years. Better still, the Trigger Point Self-Treatment System will release and deactivate your trigger points, thus potentially relieving the underlying cause of your dizziness.

That said, there are certain medical conditions linked to dizziness that you should be aware of, such as:

• Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV), which is characterized by vertigo immediately after you change the position of your head (such as sitting up in bed)

• Inflammation in your inner ear

• Meniere’s disease, an excessive buildup of fluid in your inner ear

• Migraines

• Acoustic neuroma, a noncancerous growth on the vestibular nerve, which connects your inner ear to your brain

• In rare cases, stroke, brain hemorrhage or multiple sclerosis

If you suspect your dizziness could be related to any of these conditions, it’s important to consult your health care provider for a definitive diagnosis.