
Tinnitus in relation to neck/head muscle tension - colund
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3129953/
======
corysama
A couple weeks ago a redditor posted a simple activity that seems to give
temporary relief. Doesn't work for me, but a lot of people responded with huge
thanks. Maybe it'll work for you.
[https://np.reddit.com/r/WTF/comments/3l3uri/these_guys_light...](https://np.reddit.com/r/WTF/comments/3l3uri/these_guys_lighting_a_mortar_shell_in_their_garage/cv3474n)

Looking for that, I also found this
[https://www.reddit.com/r/tinnitus/comments/3d294k/cured_my_o...](https://www.reddit.com/r/tinnitus/comments/3d294k/cured_my_own_tinnitus_and_wanted_to_share/)
tldr is: A minority of tinnitus suffers may be helped by the neck massage
described in this vid:
[https://youtu.be/eDSESarTQXk](https://youtu.be/eDSESarTQXk)

~~~
Kenji
I am pretty sure none of this helps people who have actually damaged their
ears physically (i.e. loud sound). Because then you sustained physical and
irreversible damage to your cochlea. It is important to distinguish between
this and other tinnitus, like caused by stress, tension, etc.

EDIT: Sorry to make it sound like I didn't read the article and just dumped
this onto here. I simply noticed a tendency of people to throw this link at
tinnitus sufferers without taking into consideration the aforementioned
distinction, so yes, this is slightly off-topic.

~~~
emsy
The article was about tinnitus caused by muscle tension and the tips related
to the causes described in the article.

------
foxbarrington
Awesome to see this on here. I had pulsatile tinnitus for almost two years. I
would wear soft headphones to bed so that I could listen to white noise (pink
actually) to drown out the sound.

During that time I saw at least five different doctors: general physician, two
ENTs, hearing specialist, and a naturopathic physician (I might have even seen
more that I'm not remembering). I even got MRIs. Nobody could fix it or tell
me what was causing it.

Eventually my wife suggested I get a craniosacral treatment from her yoga
instructor -- she saw on the website that it could help with tinnitus. To say
that I was dubious would be putting it very mildly. But, I was willing to try
just about anything at that point.

Long story short, craniosacral therapy is body work, and it's sort of like
chiropracty. The practicioner noticed that my jaw muscles were very tight and
did what she could to get them to release.

Over the course of the next week, my tinnitus steadily decreased and has not
been back. That was over a year ago.

tl;dr: My specific case of tinnitus was definitely caused by head/neck muscle
tension, and was cured. Hope others can find relief as well.

~~~
cbd1984
[http://skepdic.com/craniosacral.html](http://skepdic.com/craniosacral.html)

> Craniosacral therapy (a.k.a. craniopathy and cranial osteopathy) is a
> holistic therapy that involves the manipulation of the skull bones (the
> cranium) and the sacrum to relieve pain and a variety of other ailments,
> including cancer.

[snip]

> Craniosacral therapists claim to be able to detect a craniosacral "rhythm"
> in the cranium, sacrum, cerebrospinal fluid and the membranes which envelop
> the craniosacral system. The balance and flow of this rhythm is considered
> essential to good health. The rhythm is measured by the therapist's hands.
> Any needed or effected changes in rhythm are also detected only by the
> therapist's hands. No instrument is used to measure the rhythm or its
> changes, hence no systematic objective measurement of healthy versus
> unhealthy rhythms exists.

[snip]

> Skeptics note that the skull does not consist of moveable parts (unlike the
> jaw) and brain cells lack actin and myosin (the things in muscle cells that
> make them move). The only rhythm detectable in the cranium and cerebrospinal
> fluid is related to the cardiovascular system, but craniosacral therapists
> deny craniosacral rhythms are due to blood pressure. When tested, therapists
> have been unable to consistently come up with the same measurements of the
> alleged craniosacral rhythm. (Dr. Ben Goldacre says there have been five
> such published studies and "in none of them did the osteopaths give similar
> answers.")

[http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/cranial.ht...](http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/cranial.html)

[https://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/alas-poor-
craniosacral/](https://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/alas-poor-craniosacral/)

In case anyone else was curious.

~~~
foxbarrington
My views on craniosacral therapy are complicated. On one hand it seems crazy,
and most of it has to be bunk. On the other, I credit the treatment with
curing my pulsatile tinnitus.

An interesting note is that the practicioner I saw also had low regard for the
field as a whole, and I don't think she would give a blanket recommendation
for treatment.

The practicioner I saw had good knowledge of anatomy and was not into the
mystical/rhythm side of things. Most of her work was on muscles and getting
them to loosen up.

~~~
cbd1984
Sounds like a good massage therapist could have done the same thing without
the patina of bullshit.

The essence of craniosacral therapy is moving the bones in your cranium.
That's the top part of the skull which protects the brain. In adults, those
bones are fused, and no longer move; they're still distinct pieces, but the
only time you're going to get any flexion up there is if your skull has been
fractured.

So any massaging of that region isn't being done to move the bones, it's being
done (whether the practitioner knows it or not) entirely for the benefit of
the muscles, which is what helped you.

------
cmarschner
Got tinnitus about 3 years ago, eventually was able to link it to bad posture.
I've been staring at laptop screens for 15 years, and now at cell phones in
addition. My head was looking down most of the time, and then I realized it
wasn't balanced even when normal walking through the streets. Add a
challenging life period (young family) and voilà.

i read a book about pain at some point that contained a good analogy: imagine
holding a melon with one hand, arm upright. Now bend the hand forward, and try
to hold this for several hours.

Of course we wouldn't be able for more than a few minutes. The analogy of
course being the melon as the head and the arm being the spine. It makes you
realize how much muscle work is necessary to keep the head bent forward. In my
case the tension went from my neck to the jaw, and the jawbone pressing on the
region close to the ear. I first needed to relearn walking like a child, with
the head being balanced on top of its center of gravity - one can feel a
pretty remarkable effect of tension relief on the neck. Then relearn to keep
the jaw relaxed. Then adjust work habits, spend more time walking, less
staring down at phone screens. Takes a while.

This morning I woke up with no tinnitus at all. It sometimes comes back, but
then I know what to do.

Some evidence here:
[http://de.slideshare.net/mobile/TinnitusResearch/somatosenso...](http://de.slideshare.net/mobile/TinnitusResearch/somatosensory-
tinnitus-from-past-to-now)

------
graeme
I've had tinnitus since a bike accident. Hurt my left jaw, and the tension
spread through my neck and low back.

Depending how I open my jaw, clench it, or move my neck, the noise will
increase. Hearing is fine, been tested.

Fortunately I mostly don't notice it. The only real permanent effect is that
earplugs, for example on a flight, actually make noise worse.

~~~
Jhsto
> Depending how I open my jaw, clench it, or move my neck, the noise will
> increase.

This is not exclusive to muscle tension. I have tinnitus caused by damaged
hearing from hand grenade explosion and I experience the same.

~~~
graeme
Interesting, didn't know that. I imagine this is a complicated thing to study
because the symptoms can't be seen by others.

In my case a hearing test ruled out any hearing loss.

------
dghughes
I have mild tinnitus although it is always there I am not bothered by it
unless I read something like this article. It's like breathing I don't notice
it until someone says something about it.

But I wouldn't doubt neck tension is an issue since I grind my teeth at night.
Even awake and sleeping face down I can hear a sound like water rushing or a
fluttering sound and realize it's my jaw muscles. I can't control it but I am
sure it would be an issue and may cause or influence my tinnitus.

I tried the reddit neck method but no luck.

~~~
eridius
Grinding your teeth is pretty bad for your teeth too, not just your muscles.
You might want to talk to your dentist about this. They should be able to get
you a custom-fit mouth guard to wear at night to try and counter this (though
it's not cheap).

~~~
dghughes
Welcome to my life.

Yes several mouth guards/plates over the years at $500 each.

I tried but I have acid reflux too and the combination of the guard and throat
spasm makes me feel like I am suffocating.

I need to destress or changed jobs. Or get a girlfriend.

------
thatswrong0
I started sleeping on my stomach for about a month, and one day my tinnitus
got way way worse.. It was distracting me from work. I evaluated what I may
have changed (diet, exercise, sleep). Eventually noticed my change in sleep
habits, and switched back to sleeping on my back (with the help of Benadryl).
Needless to say, the severe tinnitus subsided.

I have to imagine there are more things I can do with my posture / neck to
further eliminate my tinnitus.

------
nextos
I've seen anecdotal links between neck muscle tension, TMJ (caused by wisdom
teeth), tinnitus and eye floaters.

~~~
increment_i
Yep, absolutely. I tried everything, had an MRI done, and the only thing that
reduced symptoms was starting regular high intensity workouts (Olympic lifts
and such). A year later and I'm nearly symptom free.

~~~
dazc
I started lifting weights a year ago for no other reason than for keeping in
shape.

My tinnitus (I'm a long time sufferer) has also become less severe over the
same period.

Until now I had not connected the two - mainly because I've made some other
lifestyle changes such as improving my diet and avoiding stressful situations.

So it could be coincidental, but an interesting idea nonetheless.

~~~
DanBC
When's the last time you had your blood pressure checked?

~~~
dazc
Many years ago. I suspect it's been on the high side for a long time though.

~~~
DanBC
A blood pressure check takes a few minutes.

High blood pressure can cause tinitus, although it's one of the less common
causes:
[http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Tinnitus/Pages/Causes.aspx](http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Tinnitus/Pages/Causes.aspx)

~~~
dazc
It may take a few minutes but getting a doctor's appointment takes a much
longer - not to mention a lot of determination.

Thanks for the link though, I may just have a try at getting an appointment
again before the year is out.

~~~
DanBC
Pharmacies (In the UK) can give blood pressure tests.

~~~
kodis
So can many of those in the US. Hypertension isn't something to be taken
lightly, especially given how easy it is to test for.

------
saulrh
I'm not surprised by this. I have TMJ and tinnitus, and the tinnitus gets
worse when I bite down.

------
elkelk
Interesting to see alternative treatments for tinnitus. The classic one I've
heard of is Notch Treatment

Reminded of a JS site that one of my colleagues made:
[https://tinnitusnotch.com/](https://tinnitusnotch.com/)

~~~
abrichr
Another one: [http://audionotch.com](http://audionotch.com)

They offer not just white noise, but many other types of discrete noise
samples. They also process your own music for you.

------
occam65
Within the past year I began experiencing tinnitus in my right ear, differing
between two distinct but nearby high pitch frequencies. Only noticeable in
silence, such as going to sleep at night. I've learned to notice it and
subsequently ignore, but I know I'm lucky it's not worse. It's only a minor
annoyance for me, for others it's much more than that.

------
TheAceOfHearts
I've had tinnitus since I was in grade school. I think eventually you just get
so used to it that you don't notice it unless you explicitly look for it.

With that being said, I'm interested in trying out some of the techniques
mentioned here. Being able to sleep in (almost) absolute silence sounds
blissful.

