The Balance System
The balance system is an incredibly complex system that relies on the conversation between three major parts of your body:
- Your sensory systems, which gives information about where your body is relative to your environment
- Your brain, which processes all this information
- Your muscles and joints, which coordinates the movements required to maintain balance with the information given from the brain
This sophisticated system is constantly correcting itself in order to maintain balance, and these corrections are happening at all times throughout all your movements.
Imbalance
Imbalance occurs when this system develops a glitch. It is a way of letting you know something within your body is out of sync. It can be an indicator of a variety of health disorders.
Imbalance can be the result of problems with:
- The Vestibular system (most commonly the inner ear)
- The Central Nervous System (brainstem or brain)
- The Cardiovascular System (high blood pressure or anemia)
- An infection
- A reaction to medications
In order to determine what the underlying cause of dizziness is, it is important to have a full diagnostic work-up to pinpoint where treatment should occur.