I lately discovered this: we have two big standup trolley suitcases with 4 wheels. Very convenient as you can just roll it along. However, they don’t roll perfectly smooth and tend to veer a bit left and right. And when correcting there is a bit of a delay due to the weight in motion. When I push 2 of them in front of me through an airport I feel a terrible lot of vertigo.
Now, I also have a big heavy wheel bag with a long handle to pull behind me. That requires quite a bit of effort, feels a bit like walking uphill. When I pull this bag along, I don’t feel any vertigo at all.
Can anybody relate to this? Can anybody explain this maybe? Could be a valuable hint for me.
I had A LOT of trouble pushing shopping carts in grocery stores. Not exactly the same thing, but for me it was the rattling of the wheels and cart that added noise to the busy shelves and awful lighting. It got to the point where I could still go into a grocery store and pick up small items with a basket, but then it got to where I couldn’t even go in one. I also cannot use a vacuum anymore. Same type of pushing issue, plus for me I’ve lost a lot of muscle tons due to inactivity so it became difficult, put strain on my already aching neck and shoulders, and just got me dizzy trying to navigate a moving object. Also very loud. Most of the time if the vacuum is ran in the house I have to make sure I’m seated or I have trouble standing. Not sure if this helps or not, but it is a similar pushing motion. I haven’t tried pulling anything.
I can relate to the shopping cart. The noise adds to it, but such a cart also doesn’t run on tracks, it also veers off the course you are pushing it and this creates confusing asymmetrical feedback.
The interesting thing is that when pulling the heavy bag all vertigo is gone. It is much better than walking without any luggage at all
'Vertigo’? or imbalance or dizziness? Forgive me for being pedantic but for me these are three very different sensations. Vertigo is a rushing or spinning feeling isn’t it?
I have the worst time pushing a grocery cart in the store, even if the wheels drive straight and aren’t noisey. It does seem to get better as my shopping continues and am wondering if it’s because if the weight added or is i just acclimate a bit. I think its from the weight really.
Coming from my backround in PT, I find it interesting that a common PT treatment for many gait deviations involve treatment with weighted vests or pushing a weighted walker. Just interesting that the effects of pushing weight can be beneficial to stabilize and improve function across a spectrum of conditions.
Has anyone else been evaluated by a PT and had scissoring gait with looking at the ceiling/floor (you may need to youtube this as i know this isnt common knowledge), and significant veering to the left and right when walking and looking to the contralateral side?
I long ago reached the conclusion PT and VRT are two entirely different animals either side the Atlantic. From my experience to say they are underdeveloped in the U.K. is the understatement of the Century rather than the year so I hold no shame in admitting I’ve really no idea what you are talking about with your various references in this post. I can however advise that veering either left it right amongst MAVers is common. Most people find their feet follow the direction of the head turn. Others, like me, not so.
Apologies about treatment terms and ranting. Was expressing some thoughts that won’t make sense to most.
When you say VRT as an abbreviation, is that vestibular rehab therapy? Do you have that by someone who isn’t a PT? Kind of confused by this because that’s in our scope of practice in the states.
No cause to apologise. Your comments may well be readily understood by others currently or ongoing. You will find wide variations in treatments between different countries and even wider levels of expertise I’d suspect.
Yes indeed VRT = Vestibular Rehab therapy. I don’t have it at all. I did six months years back actually before receiving a VM diagnosis but following advice from an ENT who said he could find nothing wrong with me and advised VRT as the only possible option. Many MAVers (me included) find VRT makes them far worse - you will find plenty of references using Search. I’m sure much research has been carried out in the US and as a result there’s far greater depth of knowledge and some people do find it helpful. Access to VRT outside the London area is very sparse. It is now incorporated into the training of physiotherapists here but that’s a very recent change. The majority of trained physios here will have had no experience of it at all. I did mine under an audiologist who incidentally had trained in the US at least 20 years previously. She was the only one I could find at the time I was looking. Indeed I think she was the only one for many miles at that time. Currently there is one at a local private clinic but she’s only there one half day a month!
Wow this is wild. Vestibular therapy is offered at most PT clinics in Massachusetts US. That’s very unfortunate for those who can benefit from it.
Yeah, i had to tell my PT last treatment that i want to stop doing the craniosacral therapy and focus more on my balance. A long treatment of craniosacral therapy made me feel like i was back to day 1 of my exacerbation, but i did feel much better after those days had passed. So we worked on balance and soft tissue massage of my neck (Dr. Rauch did say thr trigger point massage may help). During the balance training, I got nauseous just a few minutes in (which surprised me because it was fairly easy).
Shes becoming a bit of a life coach for me, which many of us PTs, OTs,SLPs inherently take on. So I’m very appreciative of this. Is the therapy helping or is my attack just calming down? Who knows, but as long as I’m starting to feel better i guess i dont care
