June Wellness Focus: Treating Vertigo, Concussions & Car Accident Injuries

These three conditions earn a shared spotlight because they so often arrive together. A rear-end collision on Stoney Trail can produce whiplash, a concussion, and positional vertigo in the same patient — and treating only one of the three leaves recovery incomplete.

Why they cluster

The forces in a collision (or a hard fall, or a sports impact) hit three connected systems at once:

• The neck — joints and muscles strained by rapid acceleration, producing pain, headaches, and even dizziness of its own (cervicogenic dizziness)
• The brain — concussion from rapid acceleration/deceleration, no head contact required
• The inner ear — impact can dislodge the tiny crystals that cause BPPV, the most common vertigo

Symptoms overlap heavily: headache, fog, dizziness, motion sensitivity, fatigue. Without careful assessment, patients get labelled "concussion" and wait — while a fixable BPPV or a treatable neck keeps generating symptoms.

Untangling the picture

Our assessment tests each system separately: positional testing for BPPV, oculomotor and vestibular screening, cervical examination, and exertion tolerance. The result is a symptom map — and a treatment plan with the right tool for each finding:

• BPPV → repositioning maneuvers, often resolving that portion within a few visits
• Vestibular dysfunction → gaze stabilization and habituation exercises
• Cervicogenic symptoms → manual therapy and deep-neck strengthening
• Exertion intolerance → graded, sub-symptom-threshold aerobic programs
• Lingering anxiety or driving fear → support from our in-house psychologists

The insurance side, handled

Post-collision treatment in Alberta is covered under Section B of your auto insurance regardless of fault — physiotherapy, massage, chiropractic, acupuncture, and psychology can all play covered roles. We bill insurers directly and complete the paperwork.

If you're weeks or months past a collision and still not yourself — dizzy in grocery aisles, headachy by afternoon, foggy at work — those symptoms are treatable. Call 587-355-3555, Nolan Hill Physiotherapy & Massage, open 7 days a week.