Healthy Life: Back & Neck Pain with Dizziness (732)

Healthy Life: Back & Neck Pain with Dizziness

蘇鎮邦 (Christopher So)：
舒整物理治療師 (Manipulative Physiotherapist) 人類工程師 (Ergonomist)

In 2004, I had a fall during a tennis game on Sunday. The ground was wet, my shoes were a bit worn out and I went to save a wide short. I had no time to stretch my arm out to save my head from hitting the ground. Luckily, it was artificial moss grass not hard court. I had a second or two of black out. I got up straight away. My right shoulder and my right side of the head were sore. I felt a bit light headed but not dizzy. I was a bit concerned. However, I knew if there was any vascular injury to the brain or haematoma it would take a few days to be detected by a brain scan. Therefore, I decided to go to the Box Hill Emergency on Wednesday. I waited for 4 hours and had a brain scan. Thank God. There was no detectable injury. I had no problems afterward.

In 2014, I had a fall after a shower in a public bathroom after a tennis game in Hong Kong on Sunday. I was carrying my backpack and my tennis racquet in both hands. My feet were wet and when I stepped down onto the tiles which were very slippery, I slid and fell heavily on my right buttock and elbow. I got up quickly. I could not recall that there was any black out. A short time afterward I realized that my right temporal area had a small area that was tender, not painful. I prayed that nothing serious was sustained because I had to go back to Melbourne the following Saturday.

After my return, I was very busy and I had no problems until one and a half month later. One morning (Wednesday), I woke up with slight dizziness and mild unsteadiness during walking. It was short-lived. It was 6 am in the morning. When I did my neck rolling exercise, I felt a bit giddy. I went to play tennis from 7 – 9 am and there was no problem. During the night, I got up from sleep to go to toilet and I was wobbly and nearly fell. I got up the next morning (Thursday) and felt unsteady again with slight giddiness. I went to play tennis because a friend came from Hong Kong. I played two and a half hours and had no problem. However, later in the day I had a few episodes of slight giddiness. That night, I was again unsteady when I got up from sleep to go to the toilet. I thought of going to the Box Hill Emergency the following evening after work to have a brain scan.

Luckily, that day (Friday), it was quiet in my clinic. I rested as much as I could. I read the article given to me in 2004 about: Mild Head Injury or Concussion. If there was any bleeding from the fall one and a half months earlier, it would not have taken that long. I tried to think of any other causes of the dizziness. I remembered I had a hard game on Monday night, 5 sets of tennis. I slept very late that night. I worked with the computer and got a sore and stiff neck and back. I had a mild diarrhoea and was not feeling a hundred per cent. The main cause might be that I put the ice pack on my back too long. No wonder, I was feeling unusually sore and stiff in my back. Together with my stiff neck, it might reproduce the dizziness and unsteadiness – the symptoms of a brain injury.

So I decided to wait a few days. I tried to get as much rest as I could. I treated my back with interferential therapy and my neck with ultrasound plus traction to both areas. I ate carefully so as not to get any viral symptoms. I tried to get up slowly at night and sit for a while before standing up. I did not get any dizziness on Saturday night. I played tennis on Sunday and Monday with no problem. Certainly, I will observe my condition for a longer period of time.

This makes me think that viral symptoms plus back and neck pain can cause unsteadiness and giddiness rather than brain injury.

This is a clinical observation not proven fact. It is only for reference.

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