A small clinical study explored treatment options for patients experiencing dizziness or vertigo believed to originate in the cervical spine (the neck). The study involved 14 subjects, each of whom received a single intervention. Treatments included manual therapy, anti-inflammatory medication, acupuncture, or no treatment.
According to the results, manual therapy was the only intervention associated with improvement. Patients who received manual therapy showed increased cervical spine range of motion along with a reduction in dizziness and vertigo symptoms. None of the other approaches produced measurable benefit in this small group.
The authors suggested that restoring normal motion in the cervical spine may play a role in reducing symptoms when dizziness has a cervical component. The findings were published in the journal Manual Therapy (August 2000; 5(3):151–157).
While the study was limited by its small size and single-treatment design, it raises the possibility that hands-on cervical approaches may be useful for some patients with neck-related dizziness. Larger, well-controlled studies would be needed to confirm these observations and clarify which patients are most likely to benefit.
