Could It Be Possible That I Have a Torn Sternocleidomastoid Muscle?

I have seen this user in here that is very helpful towards other users and has a lot of useful knowledge and i hope you don't get angry with me if I try to summon you to this topic @Greg Sacramento
I created this topic quite a while back https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/need-advice-and-maybe-guidance-if-possible.24353/#post-300014

Does anyone know if it's possible to tear the sternocleidomastoid muscle?

In this topic I wrote: "Some days after this incident my lymph node close to the ear lobe got swollen. It's swollen but it's not tender."

It was never a swollen lymph node. It's 100 % not a swollen lymph node. It's muscular tension or the muscle has gotten somewhat torn from either a herniated disc or my head being punched and then the sternocleidomastoid muscle has been over-stretched beyond its physical limit.

A friend took some pictures of the muscular (tendon/ligament) lumps I have had since this happened.




This lump is very slowly beginning to "fan out". It has made these small "sidelumps"

I have more and more days where my tinnitus is very quiet after I wake up. And it stays very quiet until I use my sternocleidomastoid muscle too much.

 

@BreachOfEuphoria Hi. I just saw your post for the first time. I looked at your included link and most certainly you have a sternocleidomastoid problem on right side. Sweeting out of right arm pit means a sternocleidomastoid imbalance. Read about mastoiditis unless that has cleared up since this posting.

Take the advice of Dr. Mandell - You Tube.
Don't twist your neck with force side to side. Don't massage your neck until after a X Ray ( 4 views) to see if your c spine is too straight. You may turn your neck GENTLY and look up and down SLOWLY.

For now, just do finger point therapy. First place heat on neck for a few minutes to loosen muscles.
Then gently press muscle areas in with one or two fingers on sides and back of neck three times, but not over the c spine. Then pull the sternocleidomastoids gently on left side six or so times. If there's pain stop. You will need to bend neck down and to the side to be able to grab the SCM. Then do this on right side. Repeat three times a day to start. Do this after sitting behind a computer or where the head has been pointed down.

Stay in touch.

Updated: In your situation, your intractable positional vertigo is caused by your vestibular nerve. Your tinnitus is caused by the cochlear nerve. Your tinnitus should improve with therapy. Can you explain what is going on with facial.

 

@BreachOfEuphoria What makes you say it's not a swollen lymph node? Did you have an MD verify?

 

@BreachOfEuphoria Since you have been receiving facial therapy, you may have some zygomatic processing taking place. A digastric muscle injury will appear as a sternocleidomastoid problem. The parotid gland has association with the sternocleidomastoid. We can place all this together as to what your problems really are when you explain your facial concerns. I do think that that your sternocleidomastoid is part of your problem along with possible parotid gland trauma. We just need to rule out the digastric muscle. Therapy should help you out greatly without any surgery. I'll be waiting for your response on your facial areas of concern.

 

@Greg Sacramento
Thank you so much for taking the time to reply ! I'm very gratefull you are spending your time and energy on me
Replies like yours is giving me hope and i really need hope. It's the only fuel i need these days.

By facial concerns, you mean what pain and sensations i feel in my face and head, right?
I can also modulate my tinnitus many,many different places in the skull and areas close to the ear if i touch those areas.

I will try my best to answer your questions, please let me know if i'm not on the right path.

I'm going to have to find a picture of a human head and then edit it so i can explain what i've experienced through the last 8 months.

I will edit this post or reply again later so i can answer your questions.

 

You seem very educated so i dont think i have to upload a picture and edit it to show you where the facial sensations are located.


What can i do, so we can rule out the digastric muscle? I've read up on where it's located and i'm very sure my digastric muscle has been affected. But is there any way to find out for sure?

Back in august to december 2017, where i felt much worse, i had a lot of pain, mainly in the temporalis area.
Now, the tinnitus changes in volume and frequency, mostly by touching/scratching the temporalis area and the masseter muscle.

The temporalis area sometimes feel weird to touch. When it's weird touching it, usually the tinnitus is also very low.

I got a very fine description of everything after i had the CT scan. (She writes something about my mastoid)
So i thought this description can maybe be of some use.

I'm going to do my best to translate it from danish to english(i'm posting the original first to help me translate quickly)

CT-skanning af cerebrum uden iv kontrast, viser


Tidligere undersøgelse foreligger ikke til sammenligning.


Normale forhold for alderen infra- og supratentorielt sv.t. parenkym, ventrikelsystem, basale cisterner, sulci og gyri uden tegn på blødning, infarkt, tumor eller fokalt substanstab.


Enkelte fortættede ethmoidalceller. Ellers fremtræder synlige dele af bihuler, mellemøre og mastoid normalt pneumatiserede, uden væskeansamling.


Ingen synlig fraktur i neurokraniet, specielt ikke synlig frakturfølge i basis cranii.

I will translate what i think is important (since you asked me about mastoiditis)

She writes "few thickening ethmoid cells. Besides that, sinuses, cochlea and mastoid looks pneumatised normally without fluid buildup"

 

@BreachOfEuphoria I mention zygomatic processing and parotid gland in my above post. You just mentioned the temporalis. See the link below where it connects zygomatic, parotid and temporalis.

We should assume that the mastoid does not contain fluid buildup. Since the mastoid notes are verified as normal by the radiologist we can rule that out. Most likely as said above we can also rule out the parotid gland as this would have lit up on a CT scan. Focus does need to continue with actual zygomatic processing with the temporalis as a CT scan can overlook this.

I will have some questions to ask to figure out what is taking place within your zygomatic region. Whatever it is, it wouldn't be concerning. Treatments will help and T should ease. I might go PM personnel massage because they may be several back and forth messages. Let me review some stuff and I will send you a PM tomorrow, probably with some questions. I still think that your SCM muscles are players which is so much better than very complex facial.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temporal_fascia

 

@Greg Sacramento

I answered your PM.

I'm sorry i did not answer your questions about the zygomatic processing and the parotid gland. I have a hard time, staying focused.

I read the wikipedia link.

I had pain in the area around the zygomatic bone in the fall of 2017. Not all day long. But maybe 4-5 times each day.
I don't experience pain from this area anymore.

Regarding the parotid gland. This area has been very sore.
One thing i should probably tell you. Somewhere in the fall of 2017 (i think in october) i woke up with mucus in my nose and sinuses (from dust allergy). I blew out all the mucus. When i was done, i felt there was something more in my sinus cavity on my damaged side. I blew out this lump of bloody tissue which had the consistency of chewing gum.
Just thought i should let you know at least.

 

@BreachOfEuphoria Your problem with most everything discussed in above posts may point to a maxillary sinus problem. This would include stretched SCM neck muscles ( not tinnitus related), but that's something where light messaging would help. Massage to tissue behind your ear where the lump was. It's all related.

The parotid gland is a side effect along with the temporalis. Some maxillary infection could still be present. Cephalospirin may help - less than one in a hundred received T from using this. You can translate this link into Danish.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxillary_sinus

You may also have had an added zygomatic arch orbital fracture in relation to the maxillary sinus with either the palatine or lacrimal bone. This initially can could cause blood and mucus from blowing the nose with the presence of an inflamer such as dust. Since this isn't causing pain, it would have healed.

If all infection has cleared or when it does, it may take a few more months for tissue to heal. Your T should start to improve.

 

@Greg Sacramento

I understand.
I will go to the doctor and try to get Cephalospirin.

Thank you so much for your help

 

@BreachOfEuphoria You may not need Cephalospirin, but some of these vitamins within food may help you with healing.

https://www.livestrong.com/article/370488-vitamins-for-scar-tissue/

It's going a take a little more time. Keep up the physiotherapy. Stay in touch. It's going to get better. Don't sleep on stomach.

 

Thank you for being so supportive.

If there is an infection in my maxillary sinus, i think i will try to get the antibiotics. Don't you think it's a good idea ? Whenever i have been having a cold the last 5 years, it has taken me 14 days to get rid of it. It's like my body can't fight off infections completely.

Your theory about me having a maxillary sinus infection suits what symptoms i've experienced the last 8 months.

My tongue keeps getting covered by this yellowish layer. I brush it everyday. And it's hard to get the layer away.

I have ordered some braggs, apple cider vinegar because i have so much slime in the throat and it has been sore for many months. I'm drinking it and i'm also gargling in it.

I have some more information i feel obliged to let you know. It could be important.
I have experienced some slight tinnitus in my left ear when lying down, it is not as frequent as it was 3 months back. It has gotten way better since i started visiting my new physiotherapist.
When i had it, it would start in left ear, then become centralized and then kind of join my right ear (constant) tinnitus. It can also begin when i'm sitting with a bad posture in front of the PC.

 

@BreachOfEuphoria The Cephalospirin should help according to several studies. The apple cider vinegar may help your throat, but I don't really know.

You just included ------ "I have some more information i feel obliged to let you know. It could be important.
I have experienced some slight tinnitus in my left ear when lying down, it is not as frequent as it was 3 months back. It has gotten way better since i started visiting my new physiotherapist.
When i had it, it would start in left ear, then become centralized and then kind of join my right ear (constant) tinnitus. It can also begin when i'm sitting with a bad posture in front of the PC."

I had thought that - so I included stretching of SCM muscles in post #9 above. Vertical fiber therapy for your face needs to done gently, but on a consistent basis. Keep up the physiotherapy and have a little muscle therapy on your entire neck and shoulders. Continue to update. Wishing you well.

 

@Greg Sacramento

I'm sorry but i'm pretty confused.
Is it the first quote you are reffering to when you write this ?
In the meanwhile I will do the SCM therapy as you told me in the first post.

Update on the maxillary sinus-situation:

I went to the doctor today. She took a blood test. Numbers are normal. So there is no infection (anymore) in my sinus.

Kind regards
BreachOfEuphoria

 

@BreachOfEuphoria Your facial injury is without much doubt healing. This often takes eight months. I wouldn't worry about a white tongue towards the back. This is usually the last thing to clear. Careful muscle trigger point therapy from an upper cervical doctor for neck muscles is probably needed. No injections since you had facial trauma.

 

This sounds fantastic!

I will continue the physio-visits as you told me and i've had success with doing therapy on my SCM muscle. I found a good video and found out how to grab the SCM and do the therapy on it as you told me.
I actually have a musle knot more on the back of my head i forgot to tell you about.
I'm sorry
Volume of tinnitus:
It is more and more often that my tinnitus volume is very low. Whenever i tense up in muscles on right side the volume and intensity goes up. But it seems it now reverts to very-quiet mode (faint hissing) much quicker than it ever has.

 

@BreachOfEuphoria So happy to know. The knot muscle is your scalene muscle reacting from moving tension of your SCM muscles. Nothing to worry about. Place something cold on the knot for a couple of minutes, three to five times a day for a few days.

 

Okay, thank you.

I'm visiting my physiotherapist tomorrow. Can you by any chance tell me if there is any specific therapy i can tell her to perform on me ?
I'm sorry i ask for so much, the freaking hissing has got me suicidal again today.

 

Just to mention. Breach and myself at his request have gone to PM.

 

We are in contact via private messaging now.
Topic is not dead.

 

I have just tried to private message you, there is this bug on the board that has prohibited me from private messaging you.
It was fixed the other day but just occured again.

 

@BreachOfEuphoria ,
Only 3 new member pm's in a 24 hour window unless you have already have a pm conversation.
love glynis

 

@BreachOfEuphoria Use this format if you wish.

 

Hi Greg!

I'm very sorry if i have wasted your time, i did not have a disc hernitaion, i PROBABLY had a disclocated cervical vertebrae.

But what is important here is that i also have the classical symptoms of a whiplash injury also.
I have read on numerous sites now that the SCM muscle is always affected in a whiplash injury.
And it was exactly that muscle that was stretched a lot when i got punched and my head was flying to the side.

As far as i understand, it's very common to get tinnitus from a whiplash injury, especially when it's a "to the right or left side" injury.

But i am annoyed with my injured SCM muscle. Why is it taking so long to heal? I have a strong strong hunch that when my SCM settles and is fully "repaired", that my tinnitus will go away.

On the 24'th of june i got assaulted, i got punched twice.
I have downloaded and edited a picture to show you where he punched me(it was on my right side, not left as in this picture, it was just the best picture i could find)



My tinnitus did not begin after this.

(I'm going to write a more detailed description of the incident that changed so much)
July passed and when july the 30'th came around it was my birthday. I was at home in my parents house, i was resting, lying on my stomach, with my left (left chin from the perspective of my own eyes) chin resting on the couch (my point is, i was twisting my spine). So i got up, because dinner was ready. I tilted my head back to drink some champagne and when i tilted my head forwards again i got a massive pressure in my left ear and right ear(and somewhat in my head) and i felt VERY uncomfortable. There was a very loud and deep humming sound (like a vascular sound) together with the pressure. I got extreme vertigo and sat on the nearest chair. My vision was very blurry.
Everything was sailing. I had to hold on to the table to feel some kind of balance.

I should have gone to the hospital but i was too destroyed to think clearly. I regret this very much now.
My parents and sister did nothing.

When i came home i was resting on my right side.
(it's not the wax cleaner that caused my tinnitus, i put it in the ear that is tinnitus free) (it was completely illogical of me to clean my ear with the wax-remover)
Now this is where it gets clinically interresting in regards to tinnitus:
When i was lying there, i felt a weird sensation in my neck again.
When i got out of bed and stood upright again, my whole right side of my neck tensed up all the way up to my temporal bone. The tinnitus started up in my right ear, like someone was turning up a volume button on a stereo. It took maybe 4 seconds from silence to tinnitus. But it seemed like it was muscles and nerves that turned up the volume.

And if you ask me where i hear my tinnitus. I hear it from the temporal bone, not from the eardrum.

So there was two incidents, one in my parents house and the other in my own apartment about 1 hour later.

(I'm asking these questions mostly to myself, because i become a lot less suicidal by trying to be constructive, physiologically and anatomy wise)
1 - Was it a delayed whiplash reaction (delayed by approx. 36 days)
2 - Was one of the incidents, my cervical vertebrae dislocating and the other the delayed whiplash


I want to provide you some more information, i've been suicidal all day so i will write you another message tomorrow.


Kind regards
Breach

 

@BreachOfEuphoria Johan, you recently mentioned by PM that you had a disc herniation spotted by your therapist and that you were going to use a towel with pressure force against your neck. I answered your PM message and said don't do that. I don't know for sure what your neck problems are without seeing testing results, but there are certain things within the neck that is always involved with a neck injury.

I will refer to: https://trainingandrehabilitation.com/association-tinnitus-neck-tmj/ again which has several attached sites for neck injury and whiplash. I will also make reference again to Chapter 4 Trauma of the Cervical Spine.

I will get back to you SOON on what they recommend for you. As mentioned by PM do the posture exercises in both of these links plus the other posture exercises that I sent you from highly professional sources. Then isometric and muscle therapy can begin and that will be soon. Use cold and heat for 5 or so minutes, three times a day. A neck brace may be needed for a few times a day, but only a cervical doctor can approve the use of a neck brace.

Johan, you don't have progressive degenerative disease of the neck, you just aren't old enough for any major complications in reference to that. You didn't have jaw extension otherwise you would have TMJ/D. Your situations will improve in time such as your facial concerns did.

 

@BreachOfEuphoria This may also help @Bam

A dropped or excessive kyphosis, a straight c spine is advanced with neck injury and whiplash when one has a history of neck hinging. Maintaining a long neck posture is the first and most important thing to do.

Once proper posture attention has been started, then careful rehabilitation of the musculature that relates to nerve entrapment will help as the neck muscles need to be strengthened. For nerve entrapment or injury, strengthening the trapezius, scalene, sternocleidomastoid and suboccipital muscles should be done.

This approach will also help with decompression of the internal jugular vein and the C1. The C1 area may only show discomfort at times, but it still needs to be addressed as the C1 will unilaterally compress the internal jugular vein.

The vagus nerve, the sympathetic plexus and Cruveilhier plexus is another cause of nerve entrapment. This is what most often causes neck tinnitus and aural nature. This can be completely reversed depending on amount of hearing loss. Along with this and using posture - the sternocleidomastoid, scalene, trapezius and suboccipital muscles need to be addressed. Try to maintain proper posture by using the trainingandrehabilibitation videos on U Tube. Then after a week also start muscle therapy to further decrease nerve compression.

Here is a link that shows neck muscles. http://www.innerbody.com/image_musbov/musc41.html

 

Breach I don't know if you had received more than post traumatic vertigo - BPPV from your injury that might had included vascular concussion - ears. There's several related conditions that easy to research, but I'm not qualified to discuss them with you, only a doctor should. You later had MRIs and other tests, so hopefully things are better. I ready think that things will get better, injury can take time to heal, but consider staying in touch with your doctor.

 

Thank you so much for the research and the very informative posts ! I have begun with the exercises today.

 

@BreachOfEuphoria You mentioned that your c-spine was straighten. You had a MRI, but did you have X Rays? Do you know for sure that your c spine was straighten? Sometimes there's swelling along the longitudinal ligament.

It's good that you are now using straight posture methods which are not actual exercises. One safe method to place curve back in the spine is to sit tall and tuck in chin as mentioned in link below. Your doctors and neurologist should approve and supervise a treatment plan. Placing a proper curve in your c-spine may be something that your neurologist wants to do first. Then he might suggest muscle treatment for the longus colli and longus capitis muscles which are always involved with whiplash. With that your neurologist may approve muscle treatment for various other muscles including the trapezius, SCM and scalene.

I found the manual link in post #25 above helpful.

@brummygirl

https://www.bcmj.org/articles/whiplash-role-imaging—-x-ray-or-not

 

@Greg Sacramento

I have not mentioned that my C-spine was too straight I've had an x-ray of my neck. Nothing abnormal i was told but i have not seen the actual x-ray images myself.
I had an MRI-scan to rule out acoustic neuroma. Next big step is to get an MRI-scan of my neck.

I'm not only sitting in the right posture, i am doing the various exercises you have linked to in this topic.

I have a cycle of exercises i do each day.
My tinnitus becomes less intrusive when i do these exercises and further and further away from a constant tone.