An elderly woman has been treated for dizziness and nausea after a US mountain rescue effort spun out of control.

As the 74-year-old was being airlifted Piestwa Peak in the Phoenix Mountains on Tuesday, her stretcher began to spin uncontrollably.

Things only got worse for the unfortunate hiker as the rotor wash from the recue chopper set her reeling at a rate of up to 150 rotations per minute.

Ordeal

Video footage shows the basket spinning faster and faster as it gets closer to the hovering chopper – With rescue teams raising her and lowering her again in an attempt to get things under control.

It is only when the chopper starts moving forwards that the spinning starts to subside.

The whole ordeal lasted over one minute and forty seconds before the woman was brought to a waiting ambulance and rushed to a nearby trauma centre.

She was treated for dizziness and nausea but suffered no long term ill effects and is said to be in a stable condition.

Mountain Rescue

The Phoenix Fire Department was called in to rescue the woman after she slipped and injured her head and face while hiking on Tuesday evening.

Paul Apolinar, chief pilot of the Phoenix Police Department's aviation unit told ABC Arizona that the risk of basket spin is a known phenomenon in the hoist rescue industry.

He said his department has used a hoist 210 times in the past six years with something similar happening on two other occasions.