78 | HealthLinksSC.com Suppose you’re on a ship, plane or train or in a vehicle and suddenly have the urge to throw up for no obvious reason. Chances are you’re suffering from seasickness, airsickness, train sickness or car sickness – but not because of anything wrong with the sea or any of these modes of transportation. It has to do with the sense of anything that is moving you other than you – what medical researchers call motion sickness. And while it rarely is life-threatening, motion sickness at its worst not only affects more than 110 million Americans, it can make for some unnecessary and highly unpleasant everyday living. “The symptoms of motion sickness, like nausea and dizziness, come from a miscommunication between what your eyes are seeing, what your vestibular system – your inner ear – is sensing and their communication to the brain,” said Dr. Ali Blaj, doctor of physical therapy and co-owner of Rebalance Physical Therapy in Greenville. “So you can no longer differentiate whether you’re moving or not moving.” Her colleague, Dr. Kat Orr, added that while symptoms can be mild or severe, some people are “more affected by motion sickness than others.” “Everyone responds differently to motion sickness,” Dr. Orr said. “And symptoms can vary considerably from one person to another.” MOTION SICKNESS: KNOWING YOUR NEXT MOVE By L. C. Leach III
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjcyNTM1