Over the past few months, we have been discussing imbalance, dizziness,
vertigo, disequilibrium, etc., how to find out if you are at
susceptible, etc. We know that as part of the natural aging process
people will become more prone to balance loss associated with changes in
the spinal joints from arthritis of the spine, and the disturbances in
the ocular reflexes which are preprogrammed to the spinal movements.
These disturbances can also lead to anxiety, changes in respiratory
dynamics and changes in the digestive system as these systems are all
hard wired and linked together, thus changes in one system affect the
others systems as well. Changes in breathing dynamics alone are
probably responsible for half of the dizzy feelings in society. These
changes not only create anxiety and panic disorder, but will eventually
lead to a permanent change in your systemic pH, which can lead to all
sorts of troubles.
The good news is that these disturbances are not only reversible, but
are actually quite easy to fix. Inappropriate ocular reflexes are
corrected through appropriate ocular exercises, which are orchestrated
to strengthen the specific ocular paresis, which needs to be addressed.
This alone typically improves imbalance and disequilibrium immediately.
Breathing dynamics can easily be corrected by increasing rib excursion
and thus increasing lung vital capacity. This will immediately reverse
aberrant changes in systemic pH, any panic disorder induced from such,
gastric problems, which may be associated, etc.
Inasmuch as these problems are quite reversible and easily corrected, it
is certainly with an understanding that treatment is provided under the
guidance of a health care provider adequately trained in treating
problems associated with imbalance and postural and gait abnormalities.
It is unfortunate that the vast majority of balance problems go
unnoticed and untreated when they are easiest to correct, as most people
don’t appreciate that they even have a problem because they do not take
the time to get checked. Society has been trained over time to obtain
routine blood work, and other “routine” and “preventative” screening
procedures, because we know that if we do not have them, we may miss
something that would have been easy to fix had it been diagnosed early
on but was ignored because no screening was ever done. Balance screening
is no exception to this. Simply put, the longer you wait, the longer
it will take to fix, and the more likely you will incur a fall and thus
have a serious injury to overcome. I have mentioned several times in my
column that you cannot tell if your balance is impaired without
screening. If you can tell, it is only because it has already gotten so
severe that it becomes apparent just standing or while walking about.
If this is the case, not doing anything about it is like being diabetic
and not taking your medication and not changing your diet. It will just
be a matter of time
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