Exercise induced Vertigo

Timothy C. Hain, MDMost recent update: February 8, 2011

About 1/50 patients that the author sees in his clinical dizziness practice present with symptoms that are provoked by strenuous exercise. Because exercise stresses many systems at the same time, this is a broad category that takes some sorting out. The purpose of this page is to direct the reader to more information about these categories: Note that there is also a separate page on dizziness accompanying sexual activity.

Provoking features:

• Head position with respect to gravity (positional vertigo)
  • Positional vertigo in general
  • BPPV (most common)
  • Central conditions such as damage to cerebellum (very rare)
• Head position with respect to neck (cervical vertigo)
  • Vertebral artery compression (uncommon)
  • Cervical cord compression (common)
  • Severe neck arthritis
• Pressure (i.e. straining)
  • Perilymph fistula (rare)
  • Chiari malformation (rare)
  • Superior canal dehiscence (rare)
• Going from lying down to standing
  • Blood pressure fluctuations (common)
  • CSF leak (unclear how common)
• Working out in general
  • Exercise induced migraine (common)
  • Multiple sclerosis (very unusual)
  • Subclavian steal (very unusual)
  • Hypertension during weight lifting (unclear how common)