Question
Back in early April 2007 I had a fall.  I thought I might have a concussion, but a doctor examined me and said he did not think I had one.  Since then my only lasting symptoms are a tight neck and back back as well as dizziness from what seems to be the back of my head.  When I crack my neck or back (usually upper back), the dizziness tends to calm down.  It is not too bad, as I have not fallen over from it, but it will usually hit me for a split second and make me briefly unsteady.  The tightness is fairly constant, and I have to crack my neck several times an hour and my back every day or two.  Any idea of what this could be or if a chiropractor would help?  Thanks.

Answer
Mike,

Dizziness such as you describe is related to neck tension through reflexes related to eye movement and balance.

My experience is that such dizziness ("cervicogenic dizziness") usually ends when a person relaxes the neck muscles -- as simple as that.

Chiropractic does not teach how to relax muscles, and even if muscular tensions abate, they often return, so that is not the approach I would recommend; nor does cracking your neck produce a lasting change in neck tension.  I recommend clinical somatic education -- my discipline -- which specifically trains you out of the state of muscular tension into a more supple condition.

Work with a clinical somatic educator is the fastest, easiest approach.  
list:  hannasomatics.com/practitioners.

with regard,
Lawrence Gold