Forward Head Posture Tinnitus Since 2011

Hi everyone,

Glad to found this forum. I have been suffering from forward head posture tinnitus for some years now. I beat it the first time with exercises, stretches and physio and am now on my second round, as a result of losing a phenomenal amount of weight over the last year. Physio says that my posture has changed again and not for the better.

Problem was no helped by spending hours upon hours each slouched over a laptop for my work. I run an internet business. Have now changed that. Bought a really comfortable desk chair, proper desk and also a desktop computer, the screen of which, I have to look up to!

Problem not helped by the fact that I also have Eustachion Tube Dysfunction, which may well have helped to make the tinnitus in the first place. Thankfully this just occasionally manifests itself as a "full" right ear and temporary loss of hearing in that ear. Had problem all day today, but gone now. I think it is weather and climate related.

Presently undergoing physio and also doing stretches and exercise to try to beat tinnitus second time round. Have been told by many ENT's that tinnitus cannot be cured - one even told me to go out and buy an MP3....yeah right! But what do they know? Thankfully one switched on ENT told me to get physio some time ago to see if it works and it did.

Anyway glad to be here and hoping to learn more and to offer any feedback and experiences that I have.

 

Thats interesting , I have seriously bad posture as well, do you find that your t is worse when you wake up? Also , any other symptoms of T caused by bad posture ?

 

im also in physical therapy for neck exercises, to strenghten neck, and the last time i went in i was showed a stretching one to do and now my tinnitus is very loud (more than usual ) and in middle of head for 3 days now. also now i have gotten bruise on my eyelid...out of the blue... hoping mine will go back down...

 

Can you please share the summary of neck exercises and stretching?

 

Hi everyone,

Thanks for your replies.

1/ Yes my tinnitus can be worse when I get up, but not always. However I would advise anyone with this problem to look closely at the pillows they sleep on. Make sure your spine is correctly aligned, if you sleep on right or left. This will usually mean sleeping on one pillow, if you can. I find this difficult because I have wide shoulders, so I currently sleep on two soft pillows.

2/ Never fall asleep on the sofa, allowing your head to droop. If I doze or sleep even for a few seconds, sitting upright on the sofa, my tinnitus will start. Guaranteed.

3/ Exercises. Hard to describe them all, as they are quite detailed. One of the best is to lie flat on an exercise mat with knees raised and head on pillow. Start with a higher pillow and work down to just a towel, every few minutes. The idea is to eventually get your head to lie flat on the floor. Anyone suffering from forward head posture will know how difficult this can be. I try to do this at least once a day for 30 minutes. It is a great way to strech your spine too. You can enhance this, by lifting a dumbbell, - weight depends on what you can manage - with straight arms from your stomach over you head and try to let one end of the dumbbell touch the ground once you have brought it over your head and brought it down.

4/ One of my other favourites is to lie on a swiss ball. If you go to this page http://www.leanitup.com/carve-out-your-abs-with-these-swiss-ball-exercises/ and look at picture A (swiss ball ab crunch). The difference is that I dont do the ab crunch and neither do I support my neck like he is doing - except when my neck needs a rest. I let my neck and head hang down for as long as I can, with my arms outstretched on both sides. What this does is to stretch the spine, bring the shoulders back and stretch the underused - and as a result weak - front neck muscles. I think they are called the carrotid neck muscles. Immediately after this, the tinnitus will get worse, but the next day it is always better. BTW, always do this after warming up with a walk or workout.

5/ As my wife has often been with me to physio to see what he does, she is able to replicate some of the neck massage/manual therapy that he does, but nowhere near as forcibly for obvious reasons. I find this helps too.

This problem can be beaten. The first time it took several visits to the physio and working with a very knowledgeable gym trainer. This time round, the big difference is that I have lost so much weight and to be honest, due to work pressure, I neglected my routines for many months. The physio attributes the latest tinnitus issues to posture changes from weight loss.

I have also been beating a high blood sugar problem at the same time, which was hell, but I managed it and my sugar (HbA1C) is now normal. Took me 10 months to do this through diet. If only people knew what they are doing to themselves when they eat sugar and any crap food, fake food, trans fats etc etc. The irony is that my diet wasn't that bad before, so when I found out I had high blood sugar I was shocked. Having been through that journey, I know every single food which will trigger high sugar and which don't. I used to take my blood every day, so I know. Another benefit of the weight loss and change of diet is that my blood pressure is normal, my resting pulse rate is in the high 50's/low 60's and a host of other positive changes. Anyway I digress...

Hope the info is useful.