An overview of current research, published in the Journal of the Canadian Chiropractic Association, shows that chiropractic care may have a role in helping prevent falls in elderly patients who suffer from mechanical neck pain or dizziness.
Elderly patients often experience nonspecific dizziness and chronic neck pain at the same time. Both of these symptoms are risk factors for falls, the leading cause of fatal and nonfatal injuries in adults 65 and older. Falls can result in increased morbidity and complications. In the United States, one in three elders experiences a fall each year.
Dizziness tends to increase with age. The central nervous system receives signals from the body to provide a sense of balance, and several of those signals are from muscles associated with the cervical spine. While the cause of nonspecific dizziness is not known, many researchers suggest it is caused by age-related deterioration of sensory inputs that assist with balance.
When neck muscles experience pain or dysfunction, a connection is disrupted and the brain receives mixed signals from different parts of the body, which can cause dizziness, according to current research. Dysfunction in the muscles of the cervical spine is more likely to be associated with disrupted balance, vertigo, and nonspecific dizziness, more so than dysfunction of the muscles of the lumbar spine.
Whether neck pain is the result of physical trauma or muscular dysfunction, it is associated with dizziness at high rates, along with back pain.
How Chiropractic Can Help
Spinal manipulation is a common technique used by chiropractors to treat neck pain. A study published in 2014 in Spine found that spinal manipulation combined with home exercise was an effective treatment for neck pain in elderly patients.
For elderly patients with dizziness with no known cause, traditional medical treatments are limited. While more research is needed, several studies on the efficacy of spinal manipulation in the treatment of neck pain show consistent improvement in balance and symptoms of dizziness as well.
Chiropractic is a safe, conservative treatment for dizziness and neck pain in elderly patients. To alleviate symptoms, doctors of chiropractic can provide a treatment plan that combines several therapies, such as home exercise, therapeutic massage, physiotherapy modalities, and spinal manipulation.  Even though conservative measures often yield great results, Chiropractors often will collaborate with other health care providers to help facilitate a resolution of symptoms for patients as well.
The literature review suggests that more rigorous, large-scale studies should be conducted on the effectiveness of spinal manipulation as a treatment for dizziness. This is especially necessary because of the cost, rate of disability, and morbidity associated with falls in adults 65 and older.