So You Have Tinnitus! (Ah Yet Another Victim of the Computer Age!)

This is what my therapist told me

I asked her why and she said tinnitus, neck pain, headaches, eye pain, tmj, face pain, shoulder pain, upper back burning pain is becoming EPIDEMIC.

Back in the 90's when she started with therapy, the only people she saw with neck pain were secretaries, people with tinnitus were mostly people exposed to loud noises, shoulder pain victims were people who worked with their hands. Headaches were rather hormonal mostly women and really tense people.

Today she sees neck pain, tinnitus, headaches and so on like it's sand on the beach she says. Thanks to slouching and people inabilities to stay away from computers we have become a planet of slouching hunchbacks!

She explained to me that when a muscle is overused, the body then uses surrounding muscles to support and take pressure off of that tight muscle allowing it to relax. But with computers our muscles have become so overused that people get stuck with chronic tightness and pain.

She told me that the trapezius muscle (that big muscle on the back is the first to go bad) due to slouching and with that start the headaches, since the trapezius can only take so much, then the sternocleidomastoid comes in to help the load and causes a whole lot of freaky symptoms. Once the neck muscles are tight, the patient starts complaining of headaches, vision problems, burning sensations on the face, neck cracking..... and since it doesn't stop there, then the face muscles join the party and suddenly you have all sorts of facial sensations and tingling and burning PLUS TINNITUS

She told me.... ONLY USE COMPUTERS WHEN YOU HAVE TO, THOSE THINGS ARE KILLING US!!!

 

yeah, makes sense man ...

 

1. Only use computers when you have to, school, work etc. Do not sit there hours and hours and hours watching youtube and Facebook and so on. Rather go for walks as walking is the best exercise for posture correction.

2. Even if you have an ergonomic chair and desk. You will never have good posture if you sit down all day. Even if you sit properly, humans were meant to move around, not sit for hours.... sitting for long even in good posture will eventually cause low back pain and even knee problems.

3. Practice stretching daily, yoga, breathing.... this helps keep muscles relaxed.

4. don't expect overnight miracles.... your tinnitus and other aches will go away VERY SLOWLY as you keep your good posture and allow your poor muscles to heal.

 

haha. Could be. My tinnitus came on right as I entered a compsci program in the late 90s.

I'd love to just not use computers, but, then I would not be able to eat or pay rent.

That said, I probably spend more hours bent over a screen than I strictly need to. And, I have a standing desk available at work which I should probably use more....

 

Damn you Bill Gates.

 

I believe my disability of tinnitus was triggered during 3 months' exposure to the frequency whistle, generated by five industrial pieces of electrical equipment in an enclosed 5ft by 9ft bakery room while working at a Co-operative store following a new re-fit in April 2015.

I had been a loyal employee working full-time for 5 years at the Co-op, but was given no option to amend my work duties even though my doctor asked me to be removed from the environment for 13 weeks, therefore I resigned.

Eleven months on, (aged 37), I am still left with tinnitus 24/7.

Anyone else had a similar experience to mine?

 

@naggy this info is golden. Thanks a ton for sharing this! What kind of therapist did you mean? I live in California, will try to find someone in that line.

 

This is exactly what happened to me, but other than the tinnitus and TMJ, I also have forward neck posture. Does anyone have any advice on how to go about fixing this all such as specific exercises?

 

Pretty sure mine is noise induced. That being said, I do sit at a computer for 10+ hours a day... I should probably work on my posture...