Archive for the ‘work injuries’ Category
Work Injuries, Your Balance, and How Your Cincinnati Chiropractic Clinic Can Help
At my Cincinnati Chiropractic clinic I treat a lot of seniors who are challenged by balance problems. In fact, dizziness, “wooziness,” and other balance-related problems affect at least nine percent of adults, aged 65 and over. Good balance is extremely important, of course, in assisting elders to stay independent and to avoid falling down and sustaining injuries that are frequently extremely serious or even fatal. But, what you may not know is that falls are the cause of a large portion of work-related injuries for workers younger than 65 years of age, including those in their twenties and thirties. That’s right! No one is immune to balance challenges, no matter how young they may be. In fact, those who work in “high places” 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 principal function of good balance is to help us to manage and maintain 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 stumbling, arise from a sitting position without swaying, and to climb stairs without missing a step. It is obvious, then, that good balance is vital to our health and well-being.
What come as a surprise to you is that you could have a balance dysfunction without any idea of how serious it is. On occasion someone is able to “shake off” a dizzy feeling and the sensation may not return for a while. The problem is that when precipetous dizziness comes about at a critical moment, it is too late to shake it off and a fall is usually inevitable.
Vertigo is the medical term for the sensation that you, or objects around you, are spinning. Nearly 40 percent of people in the U.S. will have at least one experience of dizziness that is serious enough to seek out a health professional, like your Chiropractor at Cincinnati Chiropractic. However, if you are involved in any of the activities listed above, it is an extremely good idea for you to see a chiropractor to have your balance checked prior to an unexpected 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 corrections if necessary, but can aid you in maintaining good balance in the future. And, of course, having good balance may save you from serious injury or worse.
Balance disorders are risky at any age. If you believe that you might have a possible balance disorder, it is crucial for you to be evaluated and treated without delay. To help to make your decision easier if you can answer “yes” to any of the following questions, even if the experience is seldom or infrequent, you should 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?
Remember: Balance problems are not isolated 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 All the more reason to have your balance checked if you work in a job that makes your falling down a “critical” issue. Don’t wait until you sustain a work injury! Call a Chiropractor today, and if you’re in the Cincinnati area, I’d love to be your Cincinnati Chiropractor!