Balance problems can make you feel dizzy, as if the room is spinning, unsteady, or lightheaded. These feelings can happen whether you’re lying down, sitting, or standing.
Many body systems — including your muscles, bones, joints, eyes, the balance organ in the inner ear, nerves, heart and blood vessels — must work normally for you to have normal balance. When these systems aren’t functioning well, you can experience balance problems.
Many medical conditions can cause balance problems. However, most balance problems result from issues in your balance organ in the inner ear (vestibular system).
Signs and symptoms of balance problems include:
- Sense of motion or spinning (vertigo)
- Feeling of faintness or lightheadedness (presyncope)
- Loss of balance or unsteadiness
- Falling or feeling like you might fall Feeling a floating sensation or dizziness
- Vision changes, such as blurriness
- Confusion
Relevant reading
Man Overboard!
For every man – regardless of hair pattern, shoe size or IPA preference – Man Overboard! by Mayo Clinic Press helps you understand your health and live your best life with this humorous but authoritative manual for the aging male.