Your Cincinnati Chiropractor Explains What You Need to Know About Work Injuries and Your Balance
July 9th, 2010 | by admin |At my Cincinnati Chiropractic Clinic I treat a lot of seniors who are challenged by balance problems. In fact, 9% of adults, aged 65 and older, experience dizziness, “wooziness,” and other balance-related conditions. Good balance is essential, of course, in assisting elders in staying independent and to avoid falling down and encounter injuries that are commonly extremely serious or even fatal. But, you may be surprised to hear that falls are the cause of a large portion of work-related injuries for workers younger than 65 years of age, including those in their twenties and thirties. That’s right! Balance problems can happen at any age. That is why those who work in “high places” like construction workers, roofers, oil platform employees, windows cleaners, or any other place where a ladder is involved are far more likely to sustain serious injury if their balance is “off.”
The most important action of good balance is to assist us in managing and maintaining our body position, whether standing still or moving, and whether on the ground or high up on a platform. Good balance assists us in walking without staggering, arising from a sitting position without swaying, and in climbing stairs without tripping. In other words, good balance is crucial to our health and well-being.
What is often surprising to some people is that they could have a balance abnormality without any idea of how serious it is. Sometimes someone may be able to “shake off” a dizzy sensation and the feeling may not return for a while. The problem is that when precipitous dizziness happens at a consequential time, it is too late to shake it off and a fall is often unpreventable.
Vertigo is the medical name for the feeling that you, or things around you, are spinning. Nearly 40 percent of people in the U.S. will have at least one incidence of dizziness that is serious enough to seek out a health professional, like the Chiropractor at Cincinnati Chiropractic. That said, if you are involved in any of the activities listed above, it is an excellent idea for you to see a chiropractor to have your balance checked prior to an acute episode of dizziness, instead of as a response to such an episode. Why? Because as a chiropractor, I can not only check your balance, and make corrections if needed, but can assist you in maintaining good balance in the future. And, it may go without saying that having good balance may save you from serious injury or worse.
Balance disorders are dangerous at any age. If you think that you might have a possible balance disorder, it is essential for you to be examined and treated without delay. Often guidelines are helpful. Therefore, if you can answer “yes” to any of the following questions, even if the experience is seldom or infrequent, you should discuss the symptom(s) with a chiropractor as soon as possible:
• Have you experienced a feeling of being “unsteady?”
• Has the room seemed to spin around you?
• Has there ever a time when you felt as if you were moving when you knew you were standing still?
• Have you lost your balance and/or fallen down?
• Have you ever felt as if you were falling?
• Has your vision ever become “blurred?”
• Have you ever felt disoriented, or lost a sense of time, place or identity?
As discussed above, balance problems are not isolated to a particular age group. From the time we learn to walk until we take our final step, our falling down is an ever-present possibility. If you work in a job that makes your falling down a “critical” event, you need to have your balance checked. Don’t wait until you sustain a work injury! Call a Chiropractor today, and if you’re in the Cincinnati area, I’d love to be your Cincinnati Chiropractor!
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