One of our AcroSpirit team members Ksenia (Sushi) recently got Vertigo the day after doing some acro in a jam!
By vertigo I mean the medical term vertigo.
Not to be confused with the common misuse of the word vertigo regarding fear of heights (which is actually called "acrophobia", which I think is a pretty funny juxtaposition that some acro people actually have acrophobia, haha).
Anyway in Sushis case, she didn't fall during the practice or have any big bumps or anything, but she woke up the next morning with severe vertigo.
Got out of bed and fell over, and then felt sick anytime she wasn't standing upright.
Pretty weird stuff...
Anyway I spoke to some of the other community members and found out that, whilst not super common, it's also not totally uncommon to get severe vertigo after acro.
So I did a little research on the good old interweb, and here's some of what I found...
"BPPV. These initials stand for benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. BPPV occurs when tiny calcium particles (canaliths) are dislodged from their normal location and collect in the inner ear. The inner ear sends signals to the brain about head and body movements relative to gravity. It helps youkeep your balance.
BPPV can occur for no known reason and may be associated with age."
So this makes sense that Acro can be an exercise that could cause these calcium particles to dislodge when flipping and whipping and spinning around like we do.
If you do at some point get severe vertigo then obviously take a break from acro, seek medical advice or do your own research, and make sure you get it resolved.
Ksenia is at the moment taking a break from acro and any activity, even driving, and she is avoiding lying down, and turning her neck sharply.
Plus she's doing some head movement exercises to help re-stabilise her inner ear balance.
Even if you don't suffer from severe vertigo after practicing acro, I'm sure you can relate as a flyer to the feeling of dizziness and imbalance after doing a few too many washing machines or whips.
Well there's some useful and good news about how to improve this.
It's actually pretty straightforward, haha...
Just practice more!
In my brief research I found an article that explained that like other sensory systems and organs in our body, we can train our bodies to get more used to spinning and different motions and become less dizzy.
Regular practice of the movements creates better sensory and neural connections.
So there you have it...
If you get severe vertigo take a break and heal it.
But if you struggle with a bit of acute dizziness whilst flying the solution is more regular acro! :)
Now, that's my kind of prescription, haha!
See you soon,
Laura
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