Ringing in the Ears

Tinnitus (ringing in the ears), is one of those things that can happen, specifically occurs in about 20% of adults. The “ringing” can actually have various qualities of sound, but is basically sound you hear but no one else can. Examples are: buzzing, pulsing, clicking, humming, hissing.

Why it happens can be hard to determine. It can be linked to many things, hearing loss, loud noise exposure, age, tobacco and alcohol use, high blood pressure, history of a head injury or whiplash, arthritis, tumors, and intracranial hypertension to name a few.

Let’s look at the anatomy! 🤓 (slide 2-4) The ear and auditory apparatus are situated in the temporal bone of our cranium, it makes up part of the skull base as well as the side of our skull. The temporal bone is unique with how many nerves and vessels travel within the bone to their destination locations.

Because of the uniqueness of this anatomy that means when you can affect the temporal bone, you can have an affect on symptoms like tinnitus! This affect is likely through and influence directly on the nerves that innervate the ear canal, ear drum, and send info to the brain, or from a pressure standpoint, influencing the organ systems.

✅ Here are some ways to affect the temporal bone with manual therapy: (slide 5 for video)

👂🏼 Rub, pull, stretch, or massage your ears

🟣 Coregous ball massage to the neck (Neck Anew) or skin lift at Erb’s point of the neck.

💆🏽‍♀️ Gently pull your hair at the scalp, especially around the base of the skull

🤚🏽 Gentle pressure and release to the mastoid process (temporal-occipital pressure)

🤚🏽 Gentle pressure and release to your sphenoid bone

🧠 Trigeminal nerve glide- check out past Reel on that

Give it a try and let me know how it feels and if it relieves any tinnitus you may have.