Cheektowaga, NY Whiplash Treatment and Dizziness

Some patients report dizziness or vertigo after an auto injury. There are four leading causes of this problem after a collision.


The most frequent cause of vertigo is because of neck trauma - or what's called cervicogenic dizziness. Your spine consists of countless of nerves referred to as proprioceptors, and these nerve fibers tell your brain the location of your body. Proprioceptors are how you can control your body in the dark or with your eyes closed, and are an important part of how your body maintains balance.

When your neck is injured, the proprioceptors can be disrupted, and this crucial data is no longer accessible to the postural control system of your brain, resulting in dizziness.

Cervicogenic dizziness usually resolves itself with proper treatment of the damaged neck structures.

Another type of vertigo is called benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, or BPPV. BPPV can be triggered by violent movement of your head, as you could very well experience especially during a car crash. Your inner ear contains tiny calcium crystals called otoliths. As you move your head, these crystals move against nerve endings in your inner ear, telling your brain about the position of your head. During a violent movement of your head, these otoliths can essentially be jarred from their normal position to other parts of your inner ear. There, they send signals to your brain that don't make sense, resulting in confusion in your postural control system, and dizziness.

Patients with BPPV frequently report vertigo that appears when they position their head and neck in certain ways. Treatment of BPPV is accomplished with a simple procedure called the Epley Maneuver, which positions your head to move the otoliths back to their normal position.

The third possible cause of dizziness after an auto collision is vascular injury. On occasion, the blood vessels of the neck are damaged, causing restricted blood flow to the brain. This type of injury is often felt as a pain in the back of the head that grows more intense over time, and it can be on either side of the head or in the middle. In some cases the pain feels dull, and other times it might feel like an increase in pressure or a throbbing sensation.

This is an extremely serious type of injury and it's very important to seek medical attention immediately if you have these signs or symptoms.

The fourth potential kind of dizziness is brain injury. If your head struck something at the time of the collision or if the collision was very bad, you can suffer a mild traumatic brain injury. If you experienced a brain injury, you might suffer with fuzzy thinking, confusion, vertigo, or memory loss after the crash. It's important that you seek medical attention if you currently have these symptoms.

Chiropractic is a proven, successful way to help men and women with dizziness, and we've been helping these types of injuries in Cheektowaga, NY since 1996.

If you have been in an auto collision and have symptoms of back pain, Dr. Palmer is here to help. We can help identify the root source of your pain and formulate a treatment plan to help you restore your health. We have helped many people in Cheektowaga, NY recover from these types of problems.

Call our office today at (716) 668-2225 for a consultation or for more advice.