Treatment for Loss of Balance in Sioux Falls
Do you find yourself losing your balance? Do you have tingling, burning pain, or numbness in your feet? It might interest you to know that these conditions could be related. In fact, peripheral neuropathy may be the cause of your balance issues.
So, what is peripheral neuropathy? How do issues with your feet throw off your balance? And what can you do to fix the problem?
Peripheral Neuropathy
Your body has millions of moving parts as individual cells repair and replicate themselves. Valves in blood vessels open and close with every heartbeat to allow blood to move forward but not back. Taste buds and salivary glands start the process of digestion, which breaks down complex compounds into their individual components so various body parts can choose what nutrients they need. Your eyes adjust focus to compensate for changes in the light. Your body shivers to increase body heat if it grows cold. And when you trip, your body takes immediate action to prevent a fall.
You don’t have to command your body to do these actions consciously. They operate in the background, only noticeable when they malfunction. Your brain acts independently of conscious thought to keep your body operating and safe. It works to keep your body in balance. It can’t let your core temperature get too cold or too hot. It must make the heart beat fast enough to oxygenate muscles when running a marathon and slow down to allow you to sleep.
Your brain can only maintain proper balance with a highly effective biofeedback system. Your brain is attached to a vast nerve network that sends electrical and chemical signals. When you touch something, nerves can tell your brain if it’s hot, cold, sharp, soft, smooth, or rough.
Messages travel so quickly that you experience sensation immediately while interpreting the information and deciding if it’s safe to touch that object or if it causes injury. For example, you set your hand down on a hot burner without realizing it was on. Your hand jerks back from the heat before recognizing what caused the injury.
Nerves travel in bundles from the base of the brain down through the hollow spinal column before branching out to every other body part. The nerves radiating from the spine are called peripheral nerves. When peripheral nerves are damaged either through trauma or unhealthy internal conditions, the damage is called neuropathy. Peripheral neuropathy is nerve damage in the extremities.
Loss Of Balance From Peripheral Neuropathy
Like other bodily systems, your brain needs information from the nerves in your feet and legs to maintain balance. The nerves in your feet, ankles, and muscles tell the brain if your foot is on the ground, if the ground is level or slanted, and in which direction. Nerves tell the brain if the ground is smooth or rough, if you have more weight on one foot than the other, and if you’re leaning forward or back as the weight shifts from your heels to your toes. Your body makes constant micro-adjustments to compensate for the environment as you move. You know where your feet are and don’t have to watch your every step to stay upright.
Now, take that feedback system away, and you are left with visual and auditory cues as to whether you are standing upright, wobbling, and need to adjust to the terrain. The message is so much faster when it comes from the feet when the brain can make immediate corrections rather than waiting until the body tips enough to alert the inner ear or eyes to the problem. Slower reaction times to a loss of balance mean the chances of a nasty fall increase. Small, everyday items like area rugs become a tripping hazard.
Finding Loss Of Balance Treatment In Sioux Falls
The first step to loss of balance treatment is to discern the cause of the peripheral neuropathy.
Diabetes: One of the most common causes of peripheral neuropathy is diabetes. Prolonged elevated blood sugar oxidizes blood vessels, causing damage to the vessel walls. Antioxidants we eat can prevent damage on a small scale, but over time, they lose the battle.
The tiny blood vessels feeding peripheral nerves are among the first to deteriorate. Nerves need adequate blood flow, oxygen, nutrients, and structural stability to be healthy and function correctly. Damage to blood vessels feeding the nerves nutrients and oxygen will slowly starve the nerves until they die.
Alcohol: Excessive alcohol consumption can deplete the body of B vitamins essential to maintain structural integrity. Vitamin B is necessary for the myelin sheath, an insulative outer layer protecting the nerves from damage. Alcohol also causes widespread inflammation that can attack nerves.
Chemotherapy: Cancer patients must make hard choices when there are no good answers. You’re allowing doctors to introduce a controlled amount of toxins into the body that will kill quickly replicating cells, like cancer, but it also damages other healthy cells, including nerves. The hope is to kill off all the malignant cells while mitigating damage to the rest of the body.
Genetics: Genetic conditions lead to nerve deterioration as the disease progresses.
Autoimmune Disorders: Sometimes, the body’s immune system is triggered, and it kicks into overdrive. The immune system starts to attack healthy cells. When this happens, you can end up with conditions like multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and more.
Infectious Disease: Some pathogen-driven diseases like Lyme disease and shingles attack the nervous system.
Trauma: Damage caused by trauma from burns, surgery, and other sources may not heal properly.
Balance Problem Treatment In Sioux Falls
Once the underlying cause(s) are determined, you can search for “loss of balance treatment near me in Sioux Falls.” You will find multiple options, and it’s best to call around so you can make an informed decision.
Treatment should start by addressing the underlying cause—not just the symptoms. By creating a healthy internal environment, you allow your nerves to heal themselves.
Behavior: It follows that any behaviors that contribute to neuropathy should be eliminated where possible. Control your blood sugar through constant monitoring, diet, exercise, and medication. To deal with alcohol neuropathy, cease all alcohol intake. Take advantage of herbal and homeopathic treatments that make you feel better.
Exercise: By exercising regularly, you improve blood flow and encourage new blood vessels to grow. Increased blood flow means better oxygenation and nutrient exchange on a cellular level. Start small and gently increase your activity until you find the right balance between what helps you feel better and what causes excess inflammation.
Nutrition: Your provider can order a simple evaluation or even a blood test to check for vitamin and mineral deficiencies. It is safe to increase your dosage of water-soluble vitamins, like vitamin C, as the excess passes from your system in urine. Fat-soluble vitamins, however, can be toxic in large quantities as they build up in your system. Follow your provider’s instructions on dose and frequency.
If the condition causing peripheral neuropathy is treated quickly, the problem may resolve itself. If, however, the underlying cause is: 1) untreatable (genetic), linked to a treatment that must continue for some reason (such as chemotherapy) or 2) advanced, then you move on to medical intervention.
Here, the different branches of medicine differ greatly in their approach based on their training.
Traditional medicine prescribes medication. In the case of infectious diseases, drugs can effectively treat the underlying cause. Unfortunately, in many cases, medication only masks symptoms rather than attacking the problem. By not dealing with the problem, damage continues.
Common medications include antidepressants and anti-seizure drugs. These drugs can cause serious side effects, some of which are worse than the disease they treat.
- Gastrointestinal distress: Nausea, vomiting blood, constipation, diarrhea,
Cognitive distress: Confusion, nightmares, grogginess, dizziness, agitation, hallucination, suicidal thoughts, depression, loss of consciousness - Sexual dysfunction: Loss of sexual desire, erectile dysfunction, inability to orgasm
- Motor dysfunction: Uncontrolled movements, loss of balance, muscle weakness, peripheral neuropathy, inability to move or speak, uncontrolled eye movements
- Cardiopulmonary distress: Difficulty breathing, irregular heartbeat, racing heart, heart attack, stroke
Our Approach
A sick plant will heal itself if given the proper light, water, warmth, and sunlight. Likewise, nerves need nourishment, oxygen, free range of motion, and a toxin-free environment to thrive. Regardless of the catalyst, treating neuropathy is about correcting the internal environment so nerves can heal.
Axiom Chiropractic & Neuropathy takes a holistic approach to wellness and healing. We start with a thorough investigation into your medical background to find the root causes for your condition.
Every patient has unique challenges and histories, and we design all treatment protocols to meet their individual needs. There are no one-size-fits-all solutions. The goal is to:
- Encourage blood vessel repair and new growth
- Encourage oxygenation and nutrient exchange to starving nerves
- Identify nutrient gaps to improve nerve conductivity and regeneration
- Ease discomfort
- Improve motor function, range of motion, strength, and balance
While we use the latest innovations in technology and some techniques are best done in the office, we recognize that some patients may be able to perform therapies in the comfort of home. By giving you the therapy you can do at home, we can help save you the cost of multiple visits, days off work, and child/adult care. We give you the tools, and you return for progress evaluation and treatment adjustments rather than visit our office for multiple weekly sessions.
We also educate our clients by giving them tools and skills to be safe when they are out and about. Loss of balance from peripheral neuropathy can cause injuries from head wounds to broken hips. People might be afraid to participate in friendly get-togethers and favorite pastimes if they’re worried about falling, and that’s no way to live. We want to help you reclaim your independence while we work to help you regain physical sensations.
Don’t Delay Treatment
The earlier you seek treatment, the better your results. Nerve damage left unchecked can cause permanent harm. Dead nerves cannot heal or regrow, but damaged nerves can heal given the proper conditions and time.
While loss of balance from peripheral neuropathy can be frightening, there are ways to reclaim your independence and improve your quality of life while you work on restoring sensation and your ability to maintain your balance. There is hope. Let us help you find lasting neuropathy relief. For more information or to schedule an appointment, call (605) 275-2010.
DISCLAIMER: THIS ARTICLE DOES NOT PROVIDE MEDICAL ADVICE
The information, including but not limited to, texts, graphics, images, and other material contained in this article are for informational purposes only. None of the material mentioned is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or treatment and before undertaking a new care regimen. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read in this article.