Tinnitus Caused by Neck Problem?

Has anyone got tinnitus from neck problems? And have it got better or worse? And have you got used to it?

 

I noticed i had forward neck posture. Always looking down at my phone, or at the office and poor posture, or in bed laying down with the laptop on my stomach and looking forward. It puts a lot of pressure on your neck. I had tenseness in my neck and i could feel a few muscles sore and twingey.

I've been standing up straight. Fixing my posture. Eliminating my bad behaviors. Doing some neck exercises. Icing the back of my neck. (Maybe i'll do chiropractic or acupunture)

I'm only on day 3 of this, but it had greatly lessened my hissing in the ears. Now its just a dull buzzing. I will continue doing this.

 

I've certainly read from people who were helped by chiropractors or osteopath. Neck, face, back, it can all effect T.

 

I was wondering if my tinnitus was due to stress or loud noise. It was pretty unknown to me. I'm thinking now it could be neck.

After my onset of tinnitus, there was a period of 3 weeks where i did not have any tinnitus. It was when i went to Asia with my girlfriend and i met her family. They really judge you on your height and posture in Asia so i was always standing up so straight everywhere i went. I did so much activities/sight-seeing/walking-around when traveling instead of the usual browse my smartphone, stare at the desktop, laptop on my stomach at night, so i did not have a chance to have bad posture.

The no tinnitus even lasted a week after i returned home and was doing bad posture stuff. After a week it cameback. I have it all written down in my journal.

Now i am really thinking it was not acoustic damage that i had and was just waiting to manifest itself as tinnitus at some random point in time, it was probably not stress neither. I always have stress. Never before has stress caused tinnitus.

Maybe it really was my posture and neck. We will certainly see after i spend some weeks with good posture and exercising/icing my neck.

 

i also got mine from laying in the bed with my laptop and looking down to much. i try a massage later in the week and see if that helps. i wil also try the thinks you do

 

I think mine came from a neck injury. The onset came after about month of daily headaches. At the time I assumed that they were from a lingering infection I had, but the infection went away and the headaches remained. The headaches continued to last until I started using a heating pad months later. I continued using a heating pad but my neck didn't really start to feel better until I went to physical therapy. They would have me do stretching, strengthening, and finally they would give me a massage at the end. My neck is much better now, but not quite 100%. I've been slacking with my neck exercises recently but I'm going to get back on them. I do notice that the T and headaches are correlated with my neck tightness. I didn't have any noise exposure and there were days where I didn't have any T, so like you I suspect the neck as well.

 

I have somatic tinnitus and pulsating tinnitus. I was sent to physical therapy for neck issues and noticed my T started to subside. After physical therapy was finished I found a chiropractor for spinal decompression. I have a desiccated disc and pinched nerves in my neck/spine (c3-c6). I also have TMJ. I noticed on the first visit with the chiropractor that my ears hissed according to the movement of the weights on the machine. My T and pulsatile tinnitus slowly went down. I am now at a 1 and very grateful to the chiropractor and I have not finished my treatment with him. There are some days that I can only hear the T when I am in a room without any noise or when I lay down at night in a quiet room. I always have to be very careful of my posture and neck position. So, yes Tinnitus can be cause from neck issues.

 

That's CERTAINLY a possibility, and given your history, a high probability.

Here's a video on ways to address those causes. I apologize ahead of time that the VISUAL of the video is blocked on most devices, as proprietary, but you can glean most of the points just by LISTENING to the audio portion.

Tinnitus & Headache - Habits to Avoid and...

 

I think that my neck hurts from grinding my teeth. I also went to the dentist for a front lower implant and I guess I had my neck bent forward. I also didn't have the dentist drill 5 seconds on and 10 seconds off. I also wasn't wearing ear protection. I started grinding my teeth the day before going to the dentist. I already have tinnitus from years ago, so I'm not sure if it was the teeth grinding or my visit to the dentist that gave me an increase in T. Also the hyperacusis must had been from the dentist's high pitch drill. Would a light finger massage help the neck, shoulders and under the hears? I saw your video earlier today on another site.

 

I think that would be excellent. It's a little difficult to massage the neck without stressing some of the muscles you are trying to relax.
Here are a couple devices I have found useful:
- https://www.amazon.com/1byone-Shiatsu-Deep-Kneading-Massager-Shoulder/dp/B01DU1QE50/
- https://www.walmart.com/ip/Acu-Mass...2472&wl11=online&wl12=116660087&wl13=&veh=sem. (usu. on Amazon, but currrently out of stock. Don't settle for the white one since it breaks too easily.)

 

Though mine was believe to be from taking meds that brought it on along with stress...could it also be from lack of vitamin B ...cause they say it is in your brain that causes the ringing?

 

@BobbyA Yes, vitamin B and also vitamin D. Most before getting somatic tinnitus have low levels of both.

I've seen different numbers, but many think that the following numbers are close to being correct. 80% of somatic tinnitus is caused by the neck with stress being an added factor. If it's dental related, noise could also be a factor as when the neck is off balance, sounds travel to the ears from within the mouth. Most of the remaining cause for somatic tinnitus is bruxism DMJ/D. The neck overall is responsible for 12% of all tinnitus. Noise is 70% for all forms of tinnitus.

 

My pulsating tinnitus comes from my neck and shoulders and I used dryneedling to get rid of it but it kept coming back after a few months or sometimes weeks or days. Now my physiotherapist advised me a theracane :

So I can get to all triggerpoints in my neck and shoulder etc etc.... it works great and my PT is at a minimum now. When I have used this I lose all pressure in my neck and shoulder and everything feel more flexible when turning my neck.
With this I can remove the effected triggerpoints without dryneedling.

 

how do you use that thing?

 

I notice that my T, when it is loud I can look down and it stops, I look up it increases in volume. I did physical therapy, because my doctors thought it was my sternocleomastoid muscle was strained. There are exercises for it on youtube. I did e stem therapy too. It did help. My T comes and goes. I found out later I have meniere's as well. Hope yours gets better, but check out the videos, also, you might want to try lipoflavonoids. I find they help lower the noise level.

 

Where can I get this cane?? Sounds great

 

Vitamin D too? Great! I seem to have the holy grail of non noise related causes. I found out recently I have an insufficient amount, despite living in the tropics.

Neck and spine issues can definitely contribute. I have posture issues, cervical spondylosis, 3mm cerebellar ectopia / borderline chiari malformation, frequent shooting nerve pains up my neck, bruxism, misaligned bite thanks to clear braces, intermittent xerostomia with the salivary glands at the back of my mouth, teeth nerve pains plus weird peripheral neuropathy around my body that comes and goes. Maybe TMJ, but not sure. ETD (one blocked and one too open). Also had bad vertigo. Plus add a lot of stress on to that.

I actually sneezed yesterday and somehow got an awful pain in my neck and then my T spiked for the rest of the day.

Often if my neck is in a certain position I will get a bit of pulsatile T, in addition to the tonal T. If I run my finger along the groove just behind my ear I can trigger a few blips of it anytime.

Ice packs help a lot as do neck exercises. I am able to deal with it now I'm used to it (will never accept it though) and it fluctuates a lot from almost inaudible to very audible. I get enough quiet time to cope. Just annoying no one can actually help me to find out what's the real cause/issue.

 

How to use the Theracane

Theracane: How to use a theracane to release...

How to release Trigger Points- TheraCane

Just search for Theracane on the web and you might find a store near you or ask you physiotherapist.

 

@Gman I have many of the same issues that you do. To make up the difference I have other problems. I had X rays and CTs done on my cervical spine - neck, mouth, TMJs, dental, sinuses, nose, airway and lower spine just after I received somatic T.

I have many age related issues, but my radiologist was able to connect certain muscles on the scans that produced spasms. Then I took into consideration my loss of cervical Lordosis. CL is a curve in the spine, the area of the spine which contains the neck vertebrae.

During a dental procedure my neck was bend and not centered which caused muscle spams. These muscles had direct communication to the central nervous system including the dorsal and nuclei component of the somatic system. Plus an assay more. Thus, somatic T happened.

There are exercises for specific problems and soreness in the neck, but the damage is already done. I might be able to use exercises to stop the worsening of my T. Maybe I might get a slight improvement in T levels, but it would be expected also having facet arthritis, among other neck conditions that it will be as noted temporary. So I will only be able to improve my conditions slightly and it would be climbing a deep hill to keep things balanced.

I will say that other than a single radiologist that was able to see my muscle spasms, I did not receive any other thoughts on my cause of somatic T from my other healthcare professionals. I presented my findings to a medical college and they confirmed. There's many younger people with tinnitus that would benefit by using slow careful designed exercise treatment for the jaw, neck and shoulders, maybe such as yourself.

 

@Greg Sacramento Very interesting, but what makes you think there's damage that can't be fixed? Have you seen a nucca chiro? I can't find any in this country. I don't want the normal chiro to do any more neck adjustments because I think it needs a specialist, especially with a cerebellum that's like a low hanging fruit. Every time I get adjustments it causes spikes.

What are these special exercises?

 

@Gman

I think that some of the physical damage of muscles and joints in the cervical neck can be improved, but maybe not always to the tinnitus itself. Age is a factor as many conditions within the neck are commonly progressive such as facet arthritis, joint hypertrophy, neuro narrowing at disc levels, and spondylosis. The cervical lordosis can be corrected by exercises. The curve is normal, but when it faces in the wrong direction it's a problem.

I have one leg longer than the other by several mm, so that can be a problem to my entire spinal posture. The one thing to prevent is muscle spasms by improper movements and body strain. With other matters such as the temporomandibular joint, one may have a change to their tinnitus levels with treatment. There's many components with the dental area that may improve tinnitus including mercury filling removal. There are volumes of information and some success stories on physical corrections. The exercises that I plan to do is for cervical lordosis in which I recently provided a link. Hopefully this will aide in not getting condition related muscle spasms within wrong movements or being in the dental chair.

 

Hi @Greg Sacramento and @Gman. Greg, I think you have a good grasp of the somatic tinnitus and a realistic perspective of the potential for improvement. I will share with you the somatic tinnitus "exercises" I find most helpful with patients, and some limitations -- later today. Also, I am just beginning a video series on somatic tinnitus. This will be very thorough and informative, but I'll share the core of it here.

 

When there is lost of disc height and bone spurs, we call this arthritis, osteoarthritis, or wear-and-tear arthritis. It is not reasonable to expect the disc space to increase nor bone spurs to shrink, but, unless those become very bad/advanced, those are NOT causing the symptoms, they are PART of the symptoms. Like a wear-and-tear-caused callus on your hand, only when it is getting WORSE/advancing will it cause symptoms. The symptom-causing tissues are the irritated nerves, typically irritated by poor joint motion or trigger points in muscles. This brings us closer to your next point.

Muscle spasm, or if we could broaden that to excess tension, is what causes waste products to build up in muscles, become toxic, and develop trigger points. This video covers some of the key movements/strain that we should avoid:

I have said a lot on how to address the trigger points in the neck, jaw, and head. You can check out my videos or other comments on that...and my upcoming series on somatic tinnitus.

This is an interesting one. Restoring the cervical lordosis (curve) can reduce the strain on the neck muscles and joints quite a bit, for the long term. "Chiropractic Biophysics" is the specialty/technique that focuses on normalizing spinal curves. There are several ways to accomplish this. I incorporate this technique in my practice, focusing primarily on home therapy. I don't give any specifics to even my patients until I have seen their recent x-rays, but here are some generalities. In advanced arthritis, the muscles and nerves may be irritated MORE by attempting to restore the lordosis. Apart from that, it is usually a good approach. I have tried numerous approaches over 21 years to restore cervical lordosis. There are 2 that I can count on for effectiveness and one that is likely effective.
For EACH of the 3, proper placement can make all the difference. The LIKELY effective one use a foam wedge, specifically a Denneroll. I didn't get results with this, I think largely because patients didn't take it seriously and use it as directed, 2-3x/day, every day for about 3 months. The next one is a counter pressure traction device that truly looks like a torture device which is set up in chiro. biophysics doctor's office. The 3rd, what I recommend, is the Posture Pump (link to a knock-off I like better than the original), used on the same schedule as the Denneroll. I usually expect 30-50% improvement in the CURVE, and often get more.

All the muscles of the jaw and the major muscles of the head are related to TMJ movements. So addressing this is KEY. The 2 biggest solutions for TMJ problems include stopping clenching or grinding and trigger point therapy. Clenching or grinding usually comes from stress (occasionally from malocclusion). So, STRESS REDUCTION is critical. That's harder when tinnitus is the stress cause AND effect. This is why I recommend CBT for everyone. Muscle work/Trigger Point Therapy is my forte, but SPLINTS, stretching, and mobilization exercises. The stretching and mobilization in most studies are fairly general, but I will be come out with more details soon. Unless you get heavy into Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy (OMT), the primary goal is to reinforce the work done with the trigger point therapy.

 

@Dr. Jay Hobbs Thanks for all the correspondence and information. As we know, the elephant in the room is exposure to loud noise 70% within all types of tinnitus. With this, they say it's hard to determine the level of hearing loss, without audio testing.

Somatic tinnitus supposedly accounts for 12% of tinnitus. I read from several studies that 80% of the 12% with somatic tinnitus received it having muscle spasms which could include bad posture of neck, whiplash and/or head trauma. Often these people had prior muscle tension or bad necks and maybe improper function within their entire spinal system. The communication of this relates to the spinal system - central nervous system/brain and audio components.

There's just too much about this to talk about, and I can't understand all of it anyway. Bending neck forward during a long dental procedure where there's pressure on the jaw can cause somatic tinnitus. I also read that most of the others that get somatic tinnitus are from DMJ/D or dental problems within the remaining 20%.

There are some articles that say somatic tinnitus is simply caused by muscle tension/trauma and/or dental problems. The question is: Is all high pitched ringing somatic tinnitus. Some researchers say yes and some that study audio components/hearing loss refer to the amount of hearing loss. Some with somatic tinnitus may not have hearing loss.

Thanks for all the information. I will try your recommendations. I go back and forth, even with the few studies that issued final conclusions saying that PT helps with somatic tinnitus. Improvement numbers vary greatly per the neck and the length period of comfort which is ringing. The dental accept using splints of different nature, and other improvements have more essence.

With myself, maybe it comes down to my brain stem as you first mentioned to me. I think that your information and your recommendations of actions may benefit many of us here. Thank you

 

I have been doing some more somatic tinnitus research. I have learned some new things myself during this process.
This video speaks of the reality of tinnitus caused by different muscles and how that actually happens.
Also, I introduce the idea of how you can know if it causes your tinnitus, but I will get much more specific on the diagnosis and treatment in the next videos of this series.

Muscle Tinnitus? Is Somatosensory Tinnitus for...

 

@Dr. Jay Hobbs
The video literary explains what I have. How can I follow the videos you're posting? I would like to know more about this.

 

Hi @Nina Saleh ,

Thanks for your interest.
This is my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/JayTHobbs
The best way to be notified of upcoming videos, etc. is to sign up for my newsletter on my website: http://tinnitussynergy.com/ . Just select the "Newsletter" tab.

 

@Dr. Jay Hobbs thank you very much
When are you going to post the next video concerning somatic tinnitus?

 

In 1-2 weeks. I'll try to get it into the thread also.

 

@Dr. Jay Hobbs I have just watched your second video and done the test n it seems to me that in some moves my T got higher. Is that an indication that it might improve?