Disclaimer alert! Hey, everybody is Doctor Jo and Bumble Rems.
And today I'm going to show you stretches and exercises for
cervical vertigo. So let's get started. So cervical Vertigo is
also known as cervicogenic dizziness. And this can be the
feeling of you're unsteady or disoriented, so it's different
than the BPPV vertigo. And often this cervical vertigo comes from
an injury or a health condition that affects your neck. So
really to help that is these tight muscles in the neck,
basically pull and then cause that vertigo feeling. So you
want to stretch everything out. So we're just going to start off
with some rotational movements just to start loosening up the
neck. So keep your head kind of in a neutral position, and then
just start doing a rotation side to side. You can do it
continuously, maybe just a little pause. You don't have to
go as far over as I'm going, you know, if this reproduces some
symptoms, you can go just a little bit less. Because if your
muscles are tight, you might not be able to but if you can
stretch them a little bit, go ahead and push just a little bit
to get that stretch. Then you're gonna go into a cervical side
bend. So now you're just kind of going over one way, going over
the other way. So just kind of try to take your ear over to
your shoulder. But you're bringing your head down, you're
not bringing your shoulder up. Again, just a continuous, this
is almost more just a warm up getting that neck loosened up.
Again, you know, you don't want it to reproduce those vertigo
symptoms, you want to just do gentle, but you can push it a
little bit if you're not getting the reproduction of those
symptoms. So after you get it loosened up, we're gonna go into
some bigger stretches. One of my favorite stretches, if you've
seen in any of my neck stuff, is an upper trap stretch. Because
again, the upper trap goes all the way into that neck area. So
if it's tight and pulling on your spine, it's compressing
those nerves, and then it can give you that vertigo type
feeling. So with an upper traps stretch, I like just to sit on
my hand on the side, I'm going to stretch, I'm going to stretch
this side, and then bring the other hand up and over where
you're just kind of placing your finger on your ear, and then
just gently pull over to the side until you feel that upper
trap stretch in the muscle right through there. If you don't want
to sit on your hand, that's okay, you can place it behind
your back, or you can just press it down. This is just to kind of
help keep that shoulder down to get that nice stretch. You're
going to hold it for 30 seconds, and then do that three times on
each side. If you're interested in doing a follow along real
time video, where you're getting the whole 30 seconds with me and
following along, you can check out those real time videos up
there. So then the next one is going to be levator scapulae
stretch. This is another one of my favorite neck stretches just
because that levator scapulae muscle is really one of those
muscles that can cause a lot of problems, a lot of pain, a lot
of tightness, and then again, causing some of that cervical
vertigo in there. So if you can, you're gonna place your hand
back on your shoulder blade trying to just push your elbow
up in the air. I know this might not be doable for some people.
So you can place it behind your back or hand underneath just
like the upper track one. But this is the way I learned it. So
this is the way I like to do it. But you can also just keep your
hand by your side. So if I'm stretching this side, this elbow
goes up. I'm turning my head to about a 45 degree angle, or
where my opposite knee is, I'm going to take my hand, put it
over my head, I call it almost like a helmet. And then I'm
going to pull downwards almost like I'm tucking my nose into my
armpit. And I should feel that stretch in my go all the way
down to that shoulder blade where it's attached, and come
all the way up to that neck or that cervical spine where it's
attached there. And so this is another one where you're holding
for 30 seconds, switch sides, do that turn, and then hold that
for 30 seconds. Again, doing that three times on each side.
So once you get everything loosened up and stretch out a
little bit, you want to start doing some strengthening
exercises. A lot of times with this cervical vertigo, big
movements are what kind of throws people off a little bit.
So I like to start off with isometric exercises. And so
isometric exercises are where you're activating the muscle,
but you're not making the big movements that might be painful.
So for example, we're gonna start off with an isometric side
bend. So the motion that you're doing is that side bend motion
that we did earlier. But this time, you're going to kind of
just place your hand on your temple or your fingers on your
temple, you can use your palm if you want to, just to stop it
from moving. So
this is the motion that I'm gonna be doing. But I'm stopping
it with my hands so I'm just kind of pushing into my hand.
I'm not pushing 100%. Maybe when you're first starting off, just
do 25 or 30%. Hold it for about three to five seconds, relax. I
like to alternate sides, so I'm coming over to this side now.
Now this is the motion that I'm doing. I'm stopping myself from
doing it. You really want to start off in that neutral
position. But once you get going, then if you want to go
over a little bit, and then do the isometric here, and then if
you can go a little bit more, do the isometric there. You can do
that as well. Or you can always keep it in that neutral position
if the other positions are uncomfortable. Then the next one
is just the rotation now, that cervical rotation. But it's
going to be the isometric movement. So same thing, you can
place your fingers on your temple area, or the palm. And
now this is the motion I'm doing, but I'm stopping it with
my hand. So now I'm just kind of pushing into that hand. Same
thing, just that 25 to 30%, to start off with, three to five
seconds, relax. Switch sides, pushing in, holding it that
three to five seconds, relax, and then doing that several
times on each side. Then we're gonna go into a chin tuck. So
chin tucks are kind of my go to for anything. iIf you want to
correct your posture. If you get head tension headaches, neck
pain, shoulder pain... chin chucks are great because they
just kind of reset everything. So with a chin tuck, for me when
I say chin tuck, I mean actually tucking it in. Sometimes a chin
tuck is this way, you can do the chin tuck that way, but the chin
tuck that I'm looking for is taking that chin and pulling it
back in where you're almost moving your whole head back. But
you want to keep your chin in a fairly neutral position. So it's
not this, or it's not up like this. You're keeping it in that
neutral position. If you want to use your finger as a target, you
might have seen me do this before, leave your finger in
this in the same spot. And then try and move your chin away from
your finger. Hold it for about three to five seconds, and then
a lot of times when you relax, you might have a little space in
between. I know my fingers moving because I was talking a
little bit. But that just means that you kind of need to do that
exercise and reset those muscles. So same thing, holding
it for about three to five seconds. It shouldn't be
painful. I have a lot of neck movement, but you might not. You
might only be able to just move it a little bit. So stay in your
comfort zone. And then as you do more, you will be able to
eventually work it back a little bit more without any pain. So
now we're just going to do scapular squeezes or shoulder
squeezes. And so all that is, is you're taking your shoulder
blades, and you're just trying to squeeze them together. So
you're imagining that someone has their hand on your spine,
and you're trying to squish their hand with your shoulder
blades. So I like to tell people to start off with using their
elbows as a guide because that kind of helps. But you're
squeezing with your muscles, you're not just bringing your
elbows back. They're just kind of going as a guide, and I'm
squeezing back. Try and keep those shoulders down. I'll see
people do this a lot. You're relaxing everything up here, and
you're just squeezing back. But again, you really need to do the
movement with the muscle. So if you feel like you're just moving
your elbows, relax your hands in front of you and just squeezed
back. So same thing, hold it for about three to five seconds,
relax, and then do a couple of those. So there you have it.
Those are stretches and exercises for cervical vertigo.
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remember, be safe, have fun, and I hope you feel better soon.