Cincinnati Chiropractor Advises: Get Your Balance Checked to Avoid Work Injuries

admin — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 17:47:23 +0000

As a Cincinnati Chiropractor I treat many older adults who suffer from balance problems. In fact, nine percent of adults, aged 65 and older, have episodes of dizziness, “wooziness,” and other balance-related challenges. Good balance is extremely important, of course, in assisting older adults to stay independent and in avoiding falls and incurring injuries that are commonly very serious or even fatal. But, would you be surprised to hear that falls are the cause of a large percentage of work injuries for workers younger than 65 years of age, including those in their twenties and thirties? That’s right! No one is “invulnerable” to balance problems, no matter how young they may be. In fact, those who work in”precarious locations” like construction workers, roofers, oil platform employees, windows cleaners, or any other place where a ladder is necessary are in danger of serious injury if their balance isn’t good.

The most important function of good balance is to help us to manage and maintain our body position, whether we are standing still or moving, and whether we are on the ground or high up on a platform. Good balance helps us to walk without staggering, arise from a sitting position without teetering, and to climb stairs without slipping. To sum it up, then, good balance is crucial to our health and well-being.

What may be disconcerting to you is that you could have a balance abnormality without realizing how significant it is. Often times an individual may be able to “shake off” a dizzy feeling and the feeling may not return for a while. However when precipetous dizziness comes about at a critical time, it is too late to shake it off and a fall is most likely inevitable.

Vertigo is the medical name for the sensation that you, or objects around you, are spinning. Close to 40% of people in the U.S. will have at least one incidence of dizziness that is acute enough to seek out a health professional, like your Chiropractor in Cincinnati. But, if you are involved in any of the activities listed above, having a chiropractor check your balance before an episode of dizziness, make corrections if necessary, and then help you to maintain good balance, may save you from serious injury or worse.

Balance disorders are dangerous at any age. If you feel as if you may have a possible balance disorder, it is extremely important 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, it is highly recommended that you 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 specific to a particular age group. Our falling down is an ever-present possibility from the time we learn to walk until we take our final step 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 it’s too late! Call a Chiropractor today, and if you’re in the Cincinnati area, I’d love to be your Cincinnati Chiropractor!

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Cincinnati Chiropractor Advises: Get Your Balance Checked to Avoid Work Injuries