My Tinnitus Is Almost 100% Gone After Physical Therapy

Early last year, I experienced tinnitus in my right ear for the first time. At the time, I was taking Diclofenac, among other medications. When I stopped taking the Diclofenac, the tinnitus went away within a week or so.

Fast forward to this year, around March, I began noticing tinnitus again, but this time in my left ear. Initially, I didn't realize it was tinnitus. I experienced occasional static noise and hissing that would come and go briefly. In fact, I think I've experienced this static or white noise over the years and assumed it was normal. However, about three months ago, I started hearing a persistent and prominent ringing that wouldn’t go away. It affected my sleep and became quite disruptive.

Around the same time, my neck, which has caused me issues for years, became worse than ever. After undergoing an MRI, CT scan, and other assessments, my surgeon and I decided to try physical therapy. It took a few months before I started physical therapy.

After just one week of physical therapy, the ringing completely disappeared. What remained was mostly static with some high-pitched tones that weren’t severe enough to keep me awake. Eventually, even the static disappeared for a time. However, the tinnitus returned as low-volume white noise, which I hardly notice, and there are one or two days each week when it is completely gone.

I’ve noticed a pattern: when I take a break from doing my exercises at home and rest, the following mornings are when I wake up without any tinnitus. My theory is that my exercises are temporarily irritating something, but when I rest, I make more progress in recovery, like taking two steps forward after one step back.

I’m doing a variety of exercises for my neck and back, but both my physical therapist and surgeon believe the tinnitus relief is primarily due to the work I'm doing on my sternocleidomastoid and suboccipital muscles, through various stretches and release protocols.

That said, my entire neck vertebrae is in poor condition and could also be contributing to the tinnitus. To address that, I’m focusing on traction during physical therapy, which has also helped relieve numbness in my fingers. I’ve even purchased a traction device to use at home.

Only time will tell how things progress.