Exercise tips when you have dizziness or balance problems

vertigo is a common condition that will affect around 40% of people in their lifetime in this video I'm going to share my tips for exercise if you're suffering with it and provide some fun balance exercises for you to try [Music] out hi everyone and welcome to exercise for health and today we will be discussing vertigo which is a symptom rather than a condition that gives the feeling that you or the environment around you is moving or spinning it's not the LI headedness feeling you get when you think that you're going to faint or when you stand up too quickly and you feel as though you're going to black out but more of an internal unsteadiness feeling which can also affect your balance there are lots of health conditions that can cause this and a few more of the common ones include benign paroxysmal positional vertigo or also known as bppv V where specific head movements cause tiny crystals in the inner ear to move from their normal position causing your brain to think that you're moving even when you're not labyrinthitis which is an inflammation of the inner ear and can also affect hearing normally caused by a viral infection such as the flu or coid vestibular neuritis which affects your vestibular nerves that connect the balance systems in your inner ear to your brain menia disease which is a condition of the inner ear that causes repeated intense episodes of vertigo and a sense of pressure inside your ear migraines can sometimes cause these dizziness symptoms cervicogenic vertigo is caused by neck problems where there are disruptions of signals sent from your joints in your neck to the brain and even stress or anxiety can bring on these dizziness symptoms there are many other more complex neurological conditions that can also cause vertigo but other than medications there are certain treatments called vestibular rehabilitation that can help reduce the severity of the vertigo symptoms and the type of treatment will largely depend on the cause these treatments should only be prescribed by a doctor or specialist so should not be attempted without being assessed first otherwise if not performed correctly they can actually make the symptoms worse some of these treatments include corthorn cookie exercises to help treat vestibular conditions which can be done in very POS positions such as lying sitting standing and even moving gaze stabilization exercises which improve the ability of your eyes to focus on a stationary object while your head is moving canalith repositioning procedures can be used to treat bppv to encourage the movement of particles trapped in the semicircular canals in the inner ear these should only be performed under the supervision of a specialist though and brand Dar off exercises which are also a form of treatment for B ppv and again should only be done under the supervision of a specialist I've purposely not shown you what these exercises are in this video because this isn't my field of expertise and I'm not qualified to prescribe these treatments however if you'd like to learn more then it's worth checking out a great website called Brain and Spine which has a fantastic booklet that you can download that provides more details and information on these treatments and I'll leave a link to it in the description below the dizziness symptom may make you feel less likely to want to be active but in essence being active can actually be helpful in reducing your symptoms through a process called vestibular compensation this is when your brain uses sensory information from your eyes and from your joints in the body to control your balance when there is a problem coming from the vestibular systems in the inner ear as an example walking can be very beneficial because of this sensory input whereas swimming and cycling are less effective Ive but still worth doing if you prefer them so when it comes to forms of structured exercise what things should you consider well firstly safety should be your priority as the last thing you want is to lose your balance and fall which in turn will affect your confidence for exercising for example if you're going to the gym to do an exercise program of cardio resistance training then consider any movements that might trigger the symptoms or make them worse this could be explosive or movements where the head moves quickly within three-dimensional space such as performing a deadlift it could be walking on the treadmill and then looking around disturbing the vestibular system which can trigger diser symptoms it could be performing burpees or continually changing your body position during your program from lying on a bench for one exercise to standing up for the next to then being bent over for the next and so on therefore you just need to know what movements might trigger the symptoms so you can limit the possibility of increasing them by adapting certain exercises where necessary and making slower gradual transitions between changes in body positions this may also mean leaving any lying floor exercises until the end of your workout to avoid repeated postural changes although other exercises where your torso is upright and your head remains relatively still should be okay however as your symptoms reduce over time performing movements that require coordin between your eyes head and body will actually help improve your balance so shouldn't be dismissed entirely finally if you want a gentle form of exercise that helps improve your balance then look for a local taiichi class the slow movements can be a great form of exercise Rehabilitation for the dizziness symptoms by increasing the sensory input from the eyes and the body to the brain so it's highly recommended if this doesn't interest you and you want some more simple balance exercises to do at home home then check out these 10 positions that you can try for 20 to 30 seconds each and they do get progressively harder the first one is just standing with your feet together which most people should be able to do if this is easy then try standing still with your feet in a tandem stance like you're on a tight rope and you can switch your feet around after doing it one way to see if the other way is any more difficult The Next Step would be standing on one foot and like number two after 20 to 30 seconds you can switch to the other foot to see if that's any more difficult if you're still not finding it challenging yet then try standing up onto the balls of your feet without stepping then try standing with your feet together but this time on an unstable surface like a foam mat or an air cushion like like I'm using here then try standing on one foot but with your eyes closed enhancing sensory input from the body if you're still not challenged yet then your balance is very good so try standing on the heels of your feet without stepping or dropping your toes back down which may be difficult to do if you have restricted ankle Mobility then you can try standing on one foot but back onto an unstable surface then progress to standing on one foot on an unstable surface while throwing and catching a ball against a wall or bouncing a ball on the floor and finally standing on one foot but on an unstable surface and with your eyes closed while juggling and using the hula hoop okay juggling in the hula hoop was just a joke as this one is ridiculously hard enough anyway as you can probably tell I would be interested to know at what point you found the position to challenge in so let me know in the comments below I hope you found the information in this video useful though if so please give it a like by clicking the Thumbs Up Button below and consider subscribing if you haven't already but thank you so much for watching and remember to stay active and keep moving to feel better hey