Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo & Taekwondo - tricks to make it work?
Hello!
I am a 41yr old female who has been doing Taekwondo for about 5 months and am a yellow belt. Back in Sept, I was diagnosed with BPPV (Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo), which is basically the version of vertigo that involves ear crystals being knocked out of place causing equilibrium offbalanses and extreme dizziness. I did PT and was able to get the ear crystals back in place, but I was told that a crystal can get knocked out again at any point, in which case I would have to go back to PT to have it put back (I know, it's a crazy concept lol).
Long story short, the last few classes we have been focusing on back kicks, and as you all know a back kick involves a bit of spinning your head around. I think doing this knocked a crystal out of place and re-triggered my vertigo. I immediately got very dizzy and almost fell over and felt like I had to puke the first time it happened, and it took me a few days to recover from it. Last night before my class, I told the instructor that I had vertigo and did not think I would be able to do back kicks at the moment b/c of the spinning, and he kinda dismissed what I said and told me that I was dizzy because I was "doing it wrong" and that if done correctly a back kick should not induce dizziness. Since i've only been doing TKD for 5 months, I decided to trust him and we ended up focusing the entire class on back kicks. Well, at the end of the class I was so dizzy that I almost passed out :(
My question is - is there anyone out there who has been able to continue w/ Taekwondo with BPPV? If so, how did you do it? I really want to stick with it, but I also need to listen to my body and not put myself in a situation where I am constantly retriggering my BPPV, as it impacts other aspects of my life when it is triggered.
I am also a little disappointed in my instructor, as it came across like he thought I was trying to get out of doing back kicks because I simply didn't like them, rather than having a legit medical condition that made them difficult to do. I know that as I get higher in belts that most kicks start including more spins, so I am worried that I won't be able to progress if any spinning triggers my BPPV.
Thank you for any and all advice!