Your Cincinnati Chiropractor Can Help You Avoid Work Injuries
April 1st, 2010 | by admin |As a Cincinnati Chiropractor I treat many elders who suffer from balance problems. In fact, nine percent of adults, aged 65 and older, experience dizziness, “wooziness,” and other balance-related conditions. Good balance is essential, of course, in aiding elders in remaining independent and in avoiding falls and encounter injuries that are frequently very serious or even fatal. But, it may surprise you to know that falls contribute to a large number of work-related injuries for individuals younger than 65 years of age, including individuals in their twenties and thirties. That’s right! No one is immune to balance challenges, no matter what their age may be. In fact, those who work in “high places” like construction workers, roofers, oil platform employees, windows cleaners, or anywhere else where a ladder is necessary are in danger of 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 helps us to walk without staggering, arise from a sitting position without teetering, and to climb stairs without missing a step. To sum it up, then, good balance is crucial to our health and well-being.
What is commongly surprising to some individuals is that they could have a balance dysfunction without any idea of how significant it may be. Sometimes an individual is able to “shake off” a dizzy feeling and it may not return for a while. The problem is that when sudden dizziness comes about at a critical moment, it is too late to shake it off and a fall is most likely unpreventable.
The sensation by some people that they, themselves, are spinning or that objects around them are moving is termed “vertigo.” Close to 40 percent of people in the U.S. will have at least one episode of dizziness that is serious enough to seek out help from a health professional, such as your Chiropractor in Cincinnati. However, if you are involved in any of the activities listed above, it is an extremely good idea for you to have a chiropractor check your balance 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 adjustments if needed, but can assist you in maintaining good balance in the future. And, naturally, having good balance may save you from serious injury or worse.
Balance disorders are serious at any age. If you feel as if you might have a possible balance disorder, it is extremely important for you to be diagnosed and treated without delay. In fact, 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 confined 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! If you’re in the Cincinnati area, give Cincinnati Chiropractic a call today!
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