Vertigo is something very hard to handle, it just comes and goes whenever it pleases. I wasn’t expecting it, I’ve had it before and there have been years between stretches, and unfortunately it happened at the U.S. Open and that knocked me off my feet. I was down for the count for most of the afternoon on Friday’s round. During the Saturday round there was a lot of times where I felt like I was going to quit. I said to myself, You know what, I’ve got to keep counting down the holes, I’ve got to keep pushing myself — you have an opportunity to win your first major championship,’ and that’s what I wanted so badly” Jason Day on his incredible comeback after collapsing on the golf course due to vertigo.

One of the many changes that occur as we age is increased incident of dizziness and vertigo. Dizziness makes you off-balance whereas vertigo makes your head spin for a moment with a feeling of nausea and blurred vision. These are two one of most common conditions almost every golfer has encountered in some point of their golfing moments. Even some of top tour pros like major champions Jason Day, LPGA Hall of Famer Joann Carner have revealed some of instances where their game was affected by especially vertigo.

But what really causes these? the answer might sound a bit odd. It’s the ear, yes, Our brain acts as a computer to integrate all this information from ears, eyes and give us what we call balance. The balance system in the inner ear is able to identify two kinds of motion; angular motion and linear motion both of these are sensed by otolithic organs located in our inner ear. All these enable us to sense gravitational pull and determine the directions. If one these systems malfunctions, you will become vulnerable to those conditions.

There is one exercise that works like charm in preventing these sicknesses. It’s called Brandt-Daroff exercise, here is how you can practice it:

1. Start in an upright position or seated position on your bed.

2. Tilt your head around a 45-degree angle away from the side causing your vertigo. Move into lying position on one side with your nose pointed up.

3. Stay in this position for about 30 seconds then move back to the seated position.

4. Repeat on the other side.

This can even be done whilst experiencing vertigo or dizziness.