Spinning, lightheadedness, and a cervical pattern
Vertigo means an illusion of spinning or motion. Lightheadedness is closer to feeling faint or unmoored, and it raises blood pressure, medication, and medical questions. A cervical pattern is dizziness that seems tied to neck pain or neck position, and it is a controversial category that still has to be screened rather than announced.
Functional Restoration Institute does not decide among those from a sentence you type. The history of timing, triggers, and associated symptoms is the start. Whiplash is one setting where several of these patterns can overlap after an acceleration injury, which is why the crash questions are asked directly.
Patterns to screen, not a diagnosis from a page
Brief spinning when you roll in bed or look up is a different story from constant unsteadiness, and both differ from a single violent onset with other neurologic signs. You will be asked how long a spell lasts, what position starts it, and whether hearing, headache, or neck pain comes with it.
Headache and neck pain are examined when they are part of your story. They are not assumed to explain the dizziness. If the pattern sounds medical, cardiac, or neurologic, the visit stops being a musculoskeletal appointment and you are directed to the right setting.
Positional spinning and the right next clinician
Benign positional vertigo often causes brief spinning with position change. Clinicians trained in positional testing and canalith maneuvers treat that problem directly. This page does not invent a branded vestibular protocol, and it does not walk you through maneuvers to try alone.
If your history fits that positional pattern, Functional Restoration Institute will say so and coordinate with a clinician who performs the maneuver, or perform only what the examining doctor is trained and equipped to do that day. If the pattern does not fit, you will not be put through a maneuver just to have done something.
Sudden neurologic symptoms are an emergency
Sudden spinning with weakness, facial droop, slurred speech, double vision, trouble walking, or a sudden severe headache can be a stroke or another neurologic emergency. Call emergency services. Do not drive to a chiropractic office to see if the neck is stiff.
After emergencies are excluded, Dr. Sani Kohen, D.C. and Dr. Tara Kohen, D.C. can evaluate the neck and balance complaints that remain and send you to ENT, neurology, or vestibular therapy when that is the better next step. Chiropractic Sports Medicine does not claim to treat every cause of dizziness.
What to expect when you are seen for Vertigo
The visit is mostly history and screening. You describe timing and triggers. Neck motion, balance, and a basic neurologic screen are compared with that story. You should leave knowing whether this looked positional, medical, cervical, or still unclear.
Hands-on neck care is used only when the neck is a plausible contributor and emergencies are out of the picture. There is no branded dizziness package. If another specialty is the right next step, the plan says that in the first conversation rather than after a long course of the wrong care.
Fees, referrals, and the doctors
Out of network. Superbill. HSA and FSA. No referral required. We will not change a prescription from your physician. Emergency symptoms, including sudden neurologic loss, go to the ER rather than to La Alameda.
Drs. Sani and Tara Kohen practice at FRI. Their backgrounds are on the about page. The suite and gym are on the office page.
Old Town, the Legacy, and the North Tustin hills
Tustin has three different weeks. Old Town is walkable, with short blocks and a lot of sitting in cafes and small offices. Tustin Legacy, on the old base, is wide, new, and built around a car. North Tustin and the hills toward Foothill are grades, older homes, and a drive down to the 55. A low back from Legacy commuting is not a knee from a North Tustin hill. We ask which one you live in before we guess at a load.
The District and the shopping around the Legacy add standing errands on top of desk jobs. Neck pain and headaches often belong to the screen. Knee pain and hip pain show up when hill residents add steps without a plan. Plantar fasciitis shows up in people whose walking is almost all concrete between the car and a door.
South on the 55
The 55 south to the 73 is the usual path to La Alameda. About 16 miles. Twenty-five minutes is a good day. Forty is a 55 that is not cooperating. Address: 26400 La Alameda, Suite 100, Mission Viejo, CA 92691. Parking at the building. Monday through Thursday, 9 to 6.
Do not book the visit as a gap between school pickup in Old Town and a meeting. The exam needs you present, not halfway back on the freeway in your head. Call (949) 312-1754. A complimentary 20-minute consultation is available if you want to meet the doctors before an evaluation.
Chiropractic, rehab, and labs from Tustin
McKenzie Method work is a strong fit when back or neck pain has a direction that makes it better or worse. Corrective exercise is the homework. Adjustments are used when a specific joint is restricted, after the screen that says a thrust is appropriate.
Functional medicine visits cover thyroid, sleep, and gut health when those are the actual complaint. The Tustin chiropractor page collects the local routes into the three pillars.
Questions patients ask
What is the difference between spinning vertigo and lightheadedness?
Spinning vertigo is a false sense that you or the room is moving, often in bursts tied to position or to the inner ear. Lightheadedness feels more like you might faint or float, and it raises questions about blood pressure, hydration, and medication. They are not treated with the same first step. A cervical pattern is a third possibility and is only considered after the more urgent stories are screened.
Can this page tell me which kind of dizziness I have?
No. Timing, triggers, hearing changes, headache, and neurologic symptoms have to be taken in person, and even then the first visit may only narrow the list. The descriptions here are patterns to recognize so you seek the right setting. They are not a diagnosis. If your spells are sudden and paired with weakness, speech change, or double vision, skip the article and use emergency care.
Who should perform positional maneuvers if this is BPPV?
A clinician trained to test the canals and to perform the matching repositioning maneuver. This clinic does not publish a do-it-yourself protocol and does not invent a branded vestibular system. If that trained step is the right next one, you will be directed to it rather than given neck exercises in its place.
Which dizziness symptoms mean I should not come in for a routine visit?
Sudden vertigo with weakness, facial droop, slurred speech, double vision, inability to walk, or a sudden severe headache needs emergency care. So does dizziness with chest pain or fainting. A routine neck exam is the wrong door. Once those causes are excluded, an evaluation of neck-related unsteadiness or a referral to ENT, neurology, or vestibular therapy can be arranged appropriately.
Related care for Tustin
Vertigo is handled at the Mission Viejo clinic, not in a satellite office in Tustin. The related pages below stay on that same visit and add the methods or neighboring problems that usually come up in the history.
- Tustin chiropractor
How people from Tustin reach 26400 La Alameda and what the three pillars cover.
- Vertigo clinical overview
The non-geographic condition page, if you want the clinic-wide explanation without the drive.
- Chiropractic Sports Medicine
The pillar this problem sits in at Functional Restoration Institute.
- Whiplash in this city
Whiplash is an acceleration injury, usually from a crash or a fall, not a stiff neck you slept on. Ligaments, joints, muscles,.
- Headaches in this city
Some headaches start from the upper neck and are provoked by neck movement or sustained posture. Many others do not. Functional Restoration.
- Neck Pain in this city
Neck pain can come from cervical joints, discs, muscles, or a nerve root that refers into the shoulder blade and arm. Desk.
- Chiropractic Adjustments
A chiropractic adjustment is a quick thrust into one joint that has lost normal motion. Functional Restoration Institute uses it only after.
- Joint Mobilization
Joint mobilization uses graded, rhythmic oscillations to restore motion in a joint that is too irritable, too guarded, or simply the wrong.
