Physical Therapy For Tinnitus
Physical Therapy For Tinnitus. An issue with your ears can be distressing and can interfere with daily living – however, ProFysio Physical Therapy’s team can assist in treating this often ignored condition!
Somatic Tinnitus is often associated with head or neck disorders [12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20]. Studies indicate that cervical manual therapy reduces muscular tightness and improves tinnitus sensitivity (Michiels et al). There have also been indications of psychological treatments helping.
Exercises for Tinnitus
These exercises can help to relax and manage your symptoms of tinnitus, whether they’re ringing in your ears, whistling noises, or other noises. Furthermore, they may improve quality of life by relieving stress and providing more energy – whether at home or a physical therapy clinic.
One effective tinnitus exercise involves opening your mouth wide. Hold onto your lower jaw with one hand while using another as support while stretching the muscles in your face, cheek, and mouth area – this should last two to three minutes until muscles start loosening and relaxation begins to occur. While results might take time to become apparent from this treatment plan, remain patient as persistence will yield positive outcomes!
Focusing on one specific sound can also help with managing tinnitus symptoms. This method, known as guided imagery, can be performed anywhere – be it your car or at work. By visualizing an image that will help calm nerves and reduce stress; for instance using a beach scene as your inspiration to imagine yourself there and experience its sounds and sensations first-hand.
Regular resistance training has been shown to have beneficial results on tinnitus symptoms as well as strength building and increasing well-being. It’s important to remain cautious and avoid engaging in weight lifting that might increase blood pressure significantly.
As part of your plan to manage tinnitus symptoms effectively, it’s advisable to avoid loud noises whenever possible and wear earplugs if necessary. Adequate rest can also help alleviate its severity while limiting caffeine and alcohol intake can help.
Reducing tinnitus symptoms will also benefit you, so try finding ways to divert yourself. Exercise, listen to soothing music or take up hobbies you enjoy are all great strategies for doing just this. Finally, ensure you get enough sleep by minimizing exposure to loud environments at work (wear earplugs when necessary).
Trigger Point Deactivation
Trigger points are tight knotted areas within palpable taut bands of muscle (muscle, fascia and tendon), that produce pain when activated with mechanical stimulation. They are present in many clients with chronic pain conditions like fibromyalgia or other forms of chronic discomfort.
Trigger points often cause burning or aching sensations that range from localized at the point of impact to radiating pain in other parts of your body such as your head or neck – potentially impacting hearing in those cases.
Many individuals suffer from both pain and tinnitus simultaneously, making it hard to pinpoint its source. Working with a physical therapist who understands the connection between muscle tension and your tinnitus will allow for effective correction at its source.
Physical therapists skilled in identifying trigger points can utilize various treatment methods to deactivate it and relieve your discomfort and tinnitus, including myofascial release, dry needling and manual therapy techniques that elongate muscle fibres. Furthermore, treating surrounding musculature including fascia may prevent future trigger point recurrence as muscles relax more fully.
Dry needling involves inserting and manipulating a solid filament needle into a trigger point to induce an involuntary spinal cord reflex called local twitch response, disrupting any dysfunctional motor endplate (which connects nerve to muscle) communication issues and restoring normal function for that muscle. Dry needling also helps neutralize acidity of muscle as well as remove neurotransmitters, neuropeptides, cytokines or chemokines which contribute to pain or inflammation.
Studies conducted on patients in Group I demonstrated a dramatic decrease in both pain intensity and frequency from digital pressure applied to MTPs after 10 sessions of treatment. Four patients that initially suffered constant tinnitus no longer suffered it by the fifth session, while two with intermittent symptoms had cleared it by the tenth.
TMJ Treatment
Temporomandibular joints (or TMJs), are two pairs of matching joints located at either end of your lower jaw which connect to your skull. Together they work with various muscles, ligaments, and nerves to allow movement of your jaw up and down, side-to-side, forward/backward. Any issues with jaw muscles, joint alignment or surrounding tissues could potentially cause tinnitus symptoms including:
TMJ disorders can cause discomfort to chewing muscles and jaw, limited jaw movement, clicking or popping sensations and headaches. They may also result in ringing ears, neck/shoulder pain, facial swelling or difficulty opening your mouth.
Studies have demonstrated the power of physical therapy to effectively diminish tinnitus. While various forms of physical therapy may help, cervical spine and TMJ treatments appear most successful. Treatment includes exercises designed to stretch out neck and jaw muscles as well as retraining how your jaw is used and manipulations of your cervical spine.
These techniques have been shown to reduce chronic tinnitus symptoms. Other therapies, including biofeedback, acupressure, relaxation and guided imagery may also help.
At ProFysio, our physical therapy approach can be combined with ancient Chinese acupuncture to further alleviate tinnitus symptoms. Acupuncture works by stimulating specific points on the body to increase blood flow and hasten healing, which can significantly help treat even after treatment for its source has taken effect. This combination can bring significant improvements even when treating its source alone.
Additionally, we can teach you how to perform cervical spine movements and posture corrections at home to avoid exacerbating tinnitus symptoms. Doing so will keep the muscles of your neck and jaw relaxed so you can sleep sounder through the night, without buzzing sounds disturbing your sleep. For more information about our Tinnitus Treatment Services please reach out today.
Guided Imagery
Guided imagery is a type of mental visualization used to promote relaxation and healing. Typically used during physical therapy sessions, guided imagery can also be utilized at home as an effective stress reliever. Participants use guided imagery by visualizing sights, sounds, scents and tastes in a manner which “diverts” them away from stressful circumstances and “places them” into a controlled situation which soothes them down.
A therapist can guide someone through this process by giving verbal prompts and encouraging them to explore all aspects of their imagined scene. The goal is to stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system, which regulates inner balance and rest; experts believe the more detailed an image is created, the greater its effectiveness will be.
Guided imagery has many advantages; studies demonstrate its effects in terms of anxiety and depression reduction, alleviation from medical procedures like bone biopsies or surgeries; reduced blood pressure; improved sleep quality and even helped with nausea relief and symptoms of illness reduction, increasing athletic performance by athletes as well as heightening short-term immune cell activity and speeding healing time for fractures, burns or wounds.
Guided imagery has proven particularly helpful for patients dealing with anxiety, PTSD and grief. Additionally, guided imagery works well alongside hypnosis and other therapeutic techniques like cognitive behavioral therapy; your therapist may recommend guided imagery alongside their other treatment options for mood or tinnitus management.
Guided imagery offers many advantages over traditional psychotherapy; one being its ability to bypass left-brain thinking altogether and tap into imagination and creativity instead, both located within the right brain area. Therefore, guided imagery offers an accessible approach for most individuals.
Start guided imagery by finding a tranquil place, closing your eyes, imagining a peaceful scene and close your eyes; imagine walking along it while paying attention to sounds, smells, textures and sensations before relaxing into that scene for several minutes while breathing deeply – you could use an audio book or CD as guidance or your physical therapist could lead you through this exercise.
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