Losing your balance isn’t only disorienting, it’s downright scary, since it can lead to a nasty fall and serious injury. Most of us have felt off balance temporarily for a variety of reasons, from a bout of vertigo to feeling lightheaded when we rise suddenly from a seated position, but what if your balance problem is linked to something else?
The able team at Houston Neurological Institute investigates your balance problems and offers treatments that bring back your equilibrium and sense of safety. With advanced tools, we can diagnose you accurately and create a treatment plan that’s highly customized to your needs.
The good balance we take for granted — until something goes wrong — requires several of our body systems to work in concert:
When even one of these becomes out of whack, balance problems result. You may also feel dizzy, faint, disoriented, or you might experience a feeling of spinning (vertigo).
Though balance challenges can be caused by many issues, from labyrinthitis (infection-caused inner ear inflammation) and hydrocephalus (when cerebrospinal fluid accumulates deep in the brain) to ataxia (a rare neurological disorder) and circulatory system disorders, we want to highlight three conditions that significantly contribute to poor balance in many.
The conditions here bring on balance issues, but seeking care from your Houston Neurological Institute provider can bring you relief, thanks to personalized treatment and advanced approaches.
If you’re experiencing persistent balance problems, you may be living with:
If you’re one of the 1 million Americans living with MS, you know that poor balance is just one of the many life-limiting symptoms of the condition. You might also be coping with tremor, vision problems, pain, numbness, speech challenges, and more.
MS is an autoimmune disease that affects the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord). Essentially, your immune system treats the cells within your myelin sheath (which protects nerve fibers) as enemies and attacks them. Unfortunately, this leads to problems that reduce your central nervous system’s ability to communicate with your body.
We treat MS with monthly IV TYSABRI therapy, which reduces relapses for those with relapsing-remitting MS, the type where patients develop secondary progressive MS that affects walking about a decade or two after symptoms start.
About 500,000 people live with Parkinson’s in the United States, and it causes both physical and cognitive symptoms, which can become debilitating as the disease progresses.
Slowed movements, shakiness, and stiffness conspire to make movement difficult for those living with Parkinson’s, and put them at risk for falls.
We offer advanced treatments to help slow Parkinson’s progression, including targeted medications (delivered orally or by infusion) and deep brain stimulation.
Additionally, physical exercise, particularly balance training exercises, have been shown to be a significant treatment for poor balance in Parkinson’s patients, and so has physical therapy.
A startling 2.5 million Americans experience a TBI every year, and more than 80,000 of them suffer a permanent disability. Any severe blow to the head can cause a TBI, and depending on the severity of the injury, a patient might suffer a concussion or be so injured that they become comatose.
Because of the traumatic nature of these injuries, it’s easy to understand why balance may be affected afterward, in addition to other motor, sensory, and cognitive deficits.
Your balance problems might be caused by the TBI, or even medications prescribed to help you recover. Your Houston Neurological Institute provider always evaluates you closely to determine the extent of your injury, the medications you’re taking, and other factors that influence the treatment they recommend.
Part of your treatment may be working with a physical therapist to restore your balance. Exercises that help with improving balance include squats, leg lifts, toe raises, and walking, especially working to increase walking distance, walking on different surfaces, and in a crowded environment so you have to navigate around people.
Depending on what causes poor balance for our patients, our treatment plan may include:
Don’t suffer with the fear of falling or an accident because of balance problems. Call our Pearland or Pasadena office to schedule an appointment, or book one online.
