Conditions · Head, ears & eyes
Acupuncture for Vertigo & Dizziness
Vertigo is the feeling that you or the room is spinning; dizziness can also mean feeling light-headed or off balance. Once your doctor has checked the cause, Chinese medicine treats the pattern behind the spells.
Common symptoms
- A spinning feeling, often when you turn your head, roll over in bed or look up
- Feeling light-headed, woozy or off balance
- Nausea or vomiting during a spell
- Unsteady walking, or needing to hold on to things
- Tiredness and worry about the next spell
Common causes
- Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV), from loose crystals in the inner ear
- Inflammation of the inner ear or its nerve after a virus (labyrinthitis, vestibular neuritis)
- Ménière's disease
- Vestibular migraine
- Neck problems, low blood pressure, anaemia or side effects of medicines
How Chinese medicine understands vertigo
The Chinese medical term for vertigo and dizziness, xuan yun, joins two words: blurred vision and a spinning head. Classical texts give a short summary of the causes: “no Wind, no dizziness”, “no Phlegm, no dizziness” and “no deficiency, no dizziness”. In practice, the patterns are:
- Liver Yang rising. Spinning that comes with stress or anger, a headache, a flushed face, ringing in the ears and poor sleep. Treatment aims to calm and anchor.
- Phlegm-Damp blocking the head. The head feels heavy, as if wrapped in cloth, with nausea, a full chest and a thick tongue coating. Spells are often worse after rich food.
- Qi and Blood deficiency. Light-headedness when you stand up or when you are tired, with paleness, palpitations and low energy. In this view, not enough is reaching the head.
- Kidney essence deficiency. Long-standing dizziness in older people, with weak knees, ringing in the ears and poor memory.
Neck tension often plays a part too. Tight muscles at the base of the skull are common in people with dizzy spells, which overlaps with neck pain.
What treatment involves
Before treatment, your doctor should have checked the cause of the dizziness. Your first visit then includes a lot of questions: what a spell feels like, what brings it on, how long it lasts, your hearing, sleep and diet. I look at your tongue and take your pulse.
Acupuncture is usually the main treatment, with points on the head, neck, hands and feet chosen for your pattern. Treatment aims to ease the spells, settle nausea and relax the neck and shoulders. When the neck is involved, tuina massage can loosen the muscles there. For deficiency patterns, Chinese herbal medicine may be added, as a formula written for you and dispensed at the clinic in Keswick.
You lie down for treatment and can take your time getting up. Plan on 5–10 treatments to judge progress. Keep up any exercises your doctor or vestibular physiotherapist gave you.
Between visits
- Get up slowly. Sit on the edge of the bed for a moment before you stand, especially at night.
- Make your home safer. Use night lights, clear floor clutter, and hold the rail on stairs.
- Drink enough water, and don’t skip meals. Both can make light-headedness worse.
- Don’t drive or climb ladders while spells are happening.
- Keep a spell diary: time, position, what you had eaten, and how long it lasted. It helps your doctor and the diagnosis here.
When to see your doctor first
Dizziness has many causes, and some are serious. Call 911 right away if dizziness comes with any sign of stroke. Think FAST: Face drooping, Arm weakness, Speech that is slurred or strange, Time to call 911. Also call 911 for:
- Sudden, severe headache, double vision or loss of vision.
- Trouble walking or standing that is new.
- Chest pain, a racing or irregular heartbeat, or fainting.
See your doctor promptly if:
- You have sudden hearing loss (a same-day problem), or new ringing in one ear.
- The dizziness followed a head injury.
- Spells are new, frequent or getting worse.
- You have started or changed a medicine, especially for blood pressure.
- You feel faint every time you stand up.
What the research says
Across 66 randomized trials with 5,797 patients, acupuncture- and tuina-based treatments, alone and in combination, may improve vertigo that comes from the neck, but most of the evidence was of low or very low certainty and the rankings between treatments should be read with caution.
Comparative effectiveness of acupuncture and Tuina for cervical vertigo: a systematic review and network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Frontiers in Neurology, 2026.
In six trials, acupuncture alone or added to medication improved vertigo, tinnitus, ear fullness and hearing scores in Ménière's disease more than medication alone, but the studies were few and had weaknesses in randomization and blinding, so the authors called for better, longer trials.
Efficacy and safety of acupuncture in the treatment of Meniere's disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in Medicine, 2024.
Research findings describe groups of people in studies. How you respond depends on your own diagnosis.
Questions about vertigo & dizziness
My vertigo comes on when I roll over in bed. Can acupuncture help?
That pattern is typical of BPPV, and a doctor or vestibular physiotherapist can often settle it with a head-positioning manoeuvre. Get that checked first. Acupuncture can sit alongside it, especially if the spells keep coming back or leave you tense and unsteady.
What is the difference between this page and the tinnitus page?
Tinnitus is about sound in the ears. This page is about balance: spinning, light-headedness and unsteadiness. Some conditions, such as Ménière's disease, bring both, and then both are part of the diagnosis.
Can I come in during a dizzy spell?
If you are in the middle of a bad spell, it is safer not to drive. Arrange a ride, or rebook. The clinic is on the second floor with stairs and no elevator, so call first if the stairs would be hard for you.