Preventing Neck Muscle Tension/Stress Building Up During Day

[ryand]

Could use your advice. I have extremely variable tinnitus that appears to go away after coming home relaxing and having a glass of wine. Seriously. Listening to high quality music reduces T volume and focusing on and doing what I love almost makes it go away temporarily. I love Woodworking with ear plugs. Maybe I don't care or even habituated some.

T shifts from one ear to the other and feels like muscle Tension. Sometimes I hear a tone for seconds every 2 weeks or so but mostly I have a buzz. Sounds like tight muscles would sound like if you could hear them.

After I work, sit in a car, sometimes sleep or even stand at work for more then 2+ hrs result in jaw tension & tightness, pain, tmj, lower neck discomfort and a tension headache.

It feels like most of the discomfort is in my temples above ears and jaw muscles.

Maybe it's forward head posture, being in a sedentary still state? However, I know if I were to keep moving I would not experience the "build up", but I have to work at a computer for at least 3 hrs a day.

I feel I like I can solve this but need help. I'm looking for a tip, like specific exercises each 30 min?

I've given up Gluten, trying to reduce salt, etc and trying to work on my daily stress cope skills.

Thank you kindly for advice or directions.
-r

 

[linearb]

3 hours? Ha, I am probably on a computer 60 hours a week, call me "Mr. Forward Neck", please.

I use a standing desk for much of the day, and other than that just try to move around, change positions, and stretch things. I also wear a bite guard that is supposed to keep my jaw/neck in a better position.

 

[dredsw19]

Hi ryand
I have similar neck tension as you've discribed.
I find swimming front crawl helps a great deal, just back & forth, breathing both sides, left & right.
Acupuncture is my new go to resource that really get's the built up tension at source.
Good luck, try everything,
Let me know how you get on,
dred

 

[Dr. Jay Hobbs]

@ryand , I think you are on the right track with addressing the muscular aspect, especially for your case. The LACK of movement is truly a problem, but the TENSION you have seems to be a big contributor also. For example, if we were sedentary for as long as @linearb , we would all be worse off, but perhaps he tolerates this by taking frequent, movement breaks and relaxing while in a sedentary posture, which can be very helpful at reducing the buildup of waste products in the muscle and limiting the worsening of the symptoms.

Here's some other info that may help.

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.

 

[ryand]

These are fantastic videos. Thank you. The only thing that immediately increases and changes T is retracting my neck straight backward (creating a double chin) or opening my jaw to the furtherest point.

Massaging my Traps over a period of 30 min+ has dramatically reduced T and tension on car drives.

I will do these exercises daily.

Are trigger points always painful or do the sometime appear as just knots?