Do Your Ears Feel Full? It Could Be Tight Neck Muscles.

From the internet..

Do your ears feel ‘full’? It could be tight neck muscles…
We have several muscles in our neck that help to hold up our head. The sternocleidomastoid, or SCM for short, can cause a variety of problems with our head. Even though it is a neck muscle, it runs from behind our ear to our collar bone in the front of our neck. This muscle is what I call ‘quiet’ because the symptoms you normally experience related to this muscle never feel like they actually manifest there. When the SCM and other muscles in the neck, like the scalenes get tight they can block the normal flow of fluids, thus causing a feeling that your ears are full. They can even cause a ‘false’ sore throat. By massaging the trigger points in these muscles, it can reduce the amount of tension and in effect open the ear channels to alleviate the feeling of fullness in the ears. It may take several treatments to see major improvements, but you should feel some changes even after one massage. If you suffer from this annoying condition, try getting a massage and ask your therapist to work the SCM and scalene muscles specifically. If you don’t have any results after a few massages, then it’s time to consult a doctor.

 

SCM trigger point self massage / squeezing definetly has a link with my T. I posted a good trigger point seld massage video into another thread a couple of days ago.

 

I had an ultrasound therapy yesterday on my neck muscles and what a relief it was in T. But as expected it came back so I guess tight neck muscles can agitate the problem and not cause it

 

not just the neck muscle but also clenching the jaw from stress caused by T or anything else can actually give a sense of `full` ears ...

 

What about pain inside the ear when you touch around it with your finger? Is that from the tight jaw or is it an earache deeper inside?

 

Actually what is the cause of the fullness? Impaired blood flow?

 

my guess, actually, is tension on the muscles of the neck and jaw. The inner ear is small, and close to those muscles -- it's not hard for it to become squeezed.

 

I think you are right on the money linear. I saw an oral surgeon today and while doing his evaluation he found that my jaw joints were severely worn from years of tension. He said this along with the inflammation of the joints is causing the fullness. We are now contemplating a round or two of Botox to help relieve the tension.

 

Hey @Kevin08 if you're still around -- I'm bumping this to ask if you ever did the botox, and if it helped with the tension/tinnitus/anything.

 

No it wasn't offered as an option. I have done lots of CranioSacral Therapy as I found this has helped the most. My therapist suggested that I stop wearing the bite guard for a while and I believe this has helped a bit. I recently found a massage therapist who specializes in TMJ and I will be seeing him soon. I'm still fighting the good fight. I start a new job in a couple of weeks that should allow me to have a little more control over the volume in the work place. I will post a more detailed update soon.

 

I had fullness in my ears in the beginning months. Once I was a little comfortable with my tinnitus, everything got cleared in time. The fullness and pain went away 100℅ for me. As the fullness in ears is common among all tinnitus sufferers regardless of the cause, anxiety seems to be a factor which might be making our neck muscles stiff and spasming

 

I believe general muscle tension can play a part in tinnitus. The stress caused by having this condition all the time certainly keeps me in a "tight" state.

I would advise anyone who thinks this may be worsening their condition to try a sauna/massage.

 

I've had tight neck muscles mainly on my left side since my T started. After more than a year they feel numb and nothing I do seems to alleviate it. I'm getting scared that this might be causing some sort of permenant damage eg restricting blood flow.

 

Hi Erik, Is your T gone ? Was it due to stressful neck muscles ?

 

I fell over in wet weather and hurt my neck, A couple of days after I developed ringing in my ears. My neck is still stiff and sore 2 months later, Just thinking if that would be causing the ringing in my ears.