Don’t let vertigo get your head in a spin this Valentine’s Day!

This month, Rebecca Nelson, Founder and Spinal & Headache Physiotherapy Specialist at Apex Clinic & Apex Headache Clinic, discusses how getting the correct diagnosis for your vertigo is vital for treating it correctly, and how the practice has been treating and clearing this debilitating condition for years.

The devastating effects of vertigo

At Apex Headache Clinic, Belfast, we have over 20 years of experience in treating vertigo or dizziness and we have a very high success rate in clearing it. This common health complaint has devastating symptoms, such as poor balance, especially when walking, light headedness, or a feeling of being ‘removed’ from the world. In the most severe cases, sufferers are confined to their homes. It can be life ruining.

Getting the right diagnosis is key

It is commonly unknown that there are in fact two major causes of vertigo; vestibular vertigo, which stems from an imbalance in the inner ear and cervical vertigo, which originates from the upper neck region of the spine. Cervical vertigo is regularly overlooked as a cause of vertigo. It is usually the result of stiffness or damage of the upper neck joints of the spine, and the person often has no neck pain, only dizziness.

Clearing your vertigo begins firstly with the correct diagnosis. Cervical vertigo is often misdiagnosed as vestibular vertigo. However, one of the features of cervical vertigo is that it does not respond to the drugs used to treat inner ear vertigo. So, if your vertigo hasn’t cleared up with medication, it is definitely time to seek our help.

Let Apex Headache Clinic clear your vertigo

Here, at Apex Headache Clinic, we have been successfully diagnosing and treating cervical vertigo for years. Furthermore, I have extensively trained the team of specialist physiotherapists in my manual regime of treatment that I use to clear it, called The Nelson Vertigo Approach™. This treatment is very successful in targeting cervical vertigo at its source and clearing it or significantly improving it in the vast majority of cases.

Your initial consultation at Apex Headache Clinic will involve one of our experienced specialist physiotherapists accessing your neck to determine if it is the source of your vertigo. If the assessment confirms that your vertigo stems from your neck, a treatment plan will then follow. Our unique manual physiotherapy treatment involves gentle and safe mobilization techniques of the targeted segments of the upper neck region. The treatment usually starts to be effective within the first few sessions.

61-year-old Shane McCann, said:

“I can’t remember what triggered my dizziness but it started about five years ago. I went through all the stages of trying to find a cure for it.

“Everyday things that I used to take for granted became almost impossible. When I woke up in the morning, I had to stay in bed for ages and gradually get myself up because if I just got out of bed straight away, I would have fallen over. I just wanted the dizziness to stop and was so desperate for a cure.

“During my consultation and assessment with Michelle, she diagnosed my dizziness as stemming from my neck and following just one treatment session, I honestly felt relief. After that first appointment, I didn’t have any dizziness for about 5 days. It was the longest I had ever felt relief in five years and I just couldn’t believe it. After each session, I would go longer and longer without any dizziness, until it disappeared completely.”

Don’t let vertigo ruin the quality of your life. At Apex Headache Clinic, we have a high success rate in clearing this complaint, even in patients who have suffered for years. If you would like to book an appointment with Apex Headache Clinic, contact us on: 028 9048 4153. No GP referral is necessary.