Dizziness

The dizziness described by patients includes different sensations. By identifying the situation in which it begins and how long it lasts, we can determine the treatment direction more accurately.

• Whether there is brief spinning when turning the head or standing up from a lying position
• Does dizziness and nausea persist for hours even when at rest?
• Do you feel lightheaded and on the verge of fainting when standing up?
• Does the floor feel unsteady or does your body lean to one side when walking?
• Do you feel a persistent sense of mental fog and floating throughout the day?
• Are there accompanying symptoms of ear fullness, tinnitus, or changes in hearing?
• Do headaches, palpitations, cold sweats, and digestive discomfort occur together?
• Whether symptoms worsen when the neck and jaw are stiff or fatigued

Brief, intense dizziness that occurs when changing posture, prolonged dizziness accompanied by ear symptoms, and dizziness characterized by repeated unsteadiness and fogginess despite no major abnormalities on tests require different treatment approaches.

Dizziness stabilizes when the vestibular system, vision, and proprioceptive signals from the neck work together. If dizziness changes when moving the head while the neck is stiff, or if it is accompanied by occipital pain and eye fatigue, we evaluate cervical movement and surrounding muscle tension.

If you clench your jaw, chew on one side, or experience stiffness in both the jaw and neck in the morning, we also examine the left-right balance of the temporomandibular joint. For patients whose visual unsteadiness and sense of physical instability decrease together after treating neck and jaw tension, Chuna therapy or temporomandibular joint balancing techniques may be selectively applied.

The absence of clear abnormalities in the ears or brain on tests does not mean the symptoms are mild or psychological. We specifically verify whether the nervous system's response to movement and sensation has become hypersensitive and whether tension in the neck, jaw, and whole body is recurring.

Dizziness and tinnitus may occur together with a feeling of ear fullness, or headaches may be accompanied by light sensitivity and nausea. Symptoms can worsen after overwork or insufficient sleep, and some patients experience dizziness and unsteadiness when they skip meals or have poor digestion.

Soian Korean Medicine Clinic does not examine dizziness in isolation; we also monitor sleep, fatigue, meals and digestion, sensations of cold or heat, stress responses, and recovery speed. We assess how dizziness, neck and abdominal tension, and balance change before and after constitution-based acupuncture. If the overall physical condition is hindering recovery, we combine constitution-based herbal medicine.

If tension, tenderness, and headaches in the neck and occipital area are prominent, we first treat the tension with acupuncture and acupoint injection. If movement of the cervical spine, rib cage, and posture is restricted, we may apply FSC Functional System Chuna therapy.

If dizziness recurs with multiple pain sites, the body stiffens easily again, and a response to changes in temporomandibular joint balance is observed, we consider temporomandibular joint balance therapy. If fatigue, sleep, digestion, and cold/heat states are all compromised, slowing recovery, we increase the proportion of herbal medicine treatment.

Soian Korean Medicine Clinic reviews any previously performed hearing tests, imaging studies, and current medications, but does not limit treatment options based solely on test results. We specifically treat the remaining dizziness, tension, and daily functional discomfort.

After treatment, we do not ask only whether the dizziness has completely disappeared.

• Whether the sensation of spinning decreases when changing posture
• Whether the duration of unsteadiness or dazedness is shortened
• Whether walking, climbing stairs, driving, and viewing screens become more comfortable
• Whether tinnitus, headaches, and nausea decrease together
• Whether symptoms do not significantly recur even on tired days

Chronic dizziness is difficult to track because symptoms vary daily. Recording the circumstances of onset, duration, and impact on daily function allows for a clearer assessment of how balance recovers through treatment.