Balance issues still unresolved 3 years down the line

[alophysio]

Hi Alan31,

Excellent history. I totally understand your frustration.

About the inner ear, I am sure your visit to the ENT would have assessed that right? I personally don't think you have vertigo, esp if you have had tests and ENT assessment. They love that sort of stuff - i have a good friend who is an ENT so i hear about tinnitus and vertigo all the time - that is, i know they are familiar with the problems!

It sounds to me that you have a neck problem. This is evidenced by the fact that OT, chiro and physio both help for a short time.

What is missing though is WHY the neck is under pressure. Now it would seem that no-one has put their finger on it (so to speak!) because the pain keeps coming back. We call this "finding the driver" - that is, trying to work out what is causing the neck and muscles around it to be under so much pressure that you get the symptoms.

From my experience, if you had your neck tested and your therapists are confident that it is causing the SYMPTOMS and have been treating the neck, then the problem may be further away like in the ribs/thorax or lower.

You mention that you snowboard - that involves a lot of twisting and falling ( ) so it is certainly not outside the realms of possibility that it is a thoracic spine dysfunction.

You may find your therapists say "it is hard to get this neck to release" or something to that effect - that is very common when it comes to treating an area that is under pressure from somewhere else.

Have a play yourself or get a friend/partner/hired person to press on various tender spots on your ribs/chest/back - when they press on the right spot, your neck will free up a bit more and you may even feel better immediately. This is what i do with a client to show them how various parts of the body can give them the symptoms and then we have to work out a way to keep that area under control - that can be HARD! But it can also be easy and good fun

All the best - let us know how you get on

Cheers

[MrPhysio+]

Interesting comments that I feel require a reply. My suggestion re a mild case of vertigo is based upon the fact that three years of musculoskeletal therapy has failed to address your problem as well as your description of motion sickness etc. ENT exclusion of severe disease does not exclude what I am suggesting. I have been involved with tinnitus patients for many years and have written a patient study on the subject. I am also involved with musculoskeletal and sports treatments and treated head injured neurological patients for many years. Although I often speak with people and have friends in many professions I do not profess to have their qualifications or to give advice regarding their professions based upon occasional conversations.
There may well be other explanations for your symptoms, but in a search for relief it would be unwise to discard suggestions out of hand unless they are totally illogical.