When I see people for balance problems in my clinic they frequently report feeling anxiety along with their other balance issues like vertigo and dizziness.  If you feel this way too, then you are not alone.
Research has demonstrated that there is a link between the two conditions.  Anatomically there is a link between the balance areas in the brain and the limbic or motional parts of the brain.  It is thought that disordered function in one area can lead to problems in the other.

When the cerebellums fail to control the vestibular nuclei (VN) properly the VNs can get out of control causing drops in blood pressure when there shouldn’t be. This can cause dizziness. So why do the cerebellums start to fail?

In my last post I talked about why a brain rehabilitation programme is necessary for anyone who sufferers vertigo or dizziness.  However before we go into that idea much further, a brief series of discussions on the anatomy of the balance system might be a good idea.  If fact it is really vital that vertigo and dizziness sufferers understand what is happening in their bodies, because a thorough understanding of the problem can help remove much of the fear and anxiety that these problems can produce.
Today we are going to …

One of our readers asked the question why I had made the assertion that people with balance problems need to undergo a brain rehabilitation programme.  This is a fair question, and I will answer it here.  This post will be more technical than most, but bear with me, it is worth it.

Regardless other whether you feel vertigo or dizziness, both are very unpleasant. Ian Hooton / Science Photo Library

It’s easy to assume that they are the same thing, because in day to day life we use the terms interchangeably, but in actual fact they are different.  And as you move forward in your understanding of your vertigo or dizziness problem it is important that you understand the difference.
Vertigo specifically means a sensation of movement of either yourself or the world when you are not really moving.  It is usually a spinning …