Tinnitus Treatment with Acupuncture
Researchers find acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine herbs effective for the treatment of tinnitus (ringing of the ears).
What is Tinnitus?
Tinnitus is a medical symptom that can indicate damage to your ear or auditory system. It’s often described as ringing in the ears, but you could hear other sounds, such as buzzing, clicking, roaring, or humming.
For some, tinnitus comes and goes. For others, it can last for hours or days at a time. Regardless of how long it lasts, tinnitus can be a major disruption to your daily life, making it hard to concentrate or sleep.
Evaluate and treat underlying problems of Tinnitus
If you develop tinnitus, it’s important to see your clinician. She or he will take a medical history, give you a physical examination, and do a series of tests to try to find the source of the problem. She or he will also ask you to describe the noise you’re hearing (including its pitch and sound quality, and whether it’s constant or periodic, steady or pulsatile) and the times and places in which you hear it. Your clinician will review your medical history, your current and past exposure to noise, and any medications or supplements you’re taking. Tinnitus can be a side effect of many medications, especially when taken at higher doses.
Musculoskeletal factors — jaw clenching, tooth grinding, prior injury, or muscle tension in the neck — sometimes make tinnitus more noticeable, so your clinician may ask you to tighten muscles or move the jaw or neck in certain ways to see if the sound changes. If tight muscles are part of the problem, massage therapy may help relieve it.
Tinnitus that’s continuous, steady, and high-pitched (the most common type) generally indicates a problem in the auditory system and requires hearing tests conducted by an audiologist. Pulsatile tinnitus calls for a medical evaluation, especially if the noise is frequent or constant. MRI or CT imaging may be needed to check for a tumor or blood vessel abnormality.
Your general health can affect the severity and impact of tinnitus, so this is also a good time to take stock of your diet, physical activity, sleep, and stress level — and take steps to improve them. You may also be able to reduce the impact of tinnitus by treating depression, anxiety, insomnia, and pain with medications or psychotherapy.
How Acupuncture Benefits Patients with Tinnitus
In Chinese medicine, the kidney-bladder network governs hearing and the ears. Tinnitus, then, is often associated with progressive kidney weakness brought on by overstrain, lack of sleep, and excessive sexual activity. Negative emotions are also often associated with tinnitus. Anger, frustration, resentment, and hatred block the liver energy, which over time produces fire rising up to the head, which disrupts hearing.
In many people, tinnitus is an expression of a much deeper disharmony that has been slowly and gradually evolving. For these patients, the treatment options will include acupuncture and herbal therapies to nourish the body at a deeper level. For others, tinnitus may be a side effect of medications or exposure to loud noise. These patients may respond well to acupuncture therapy alone. Traditional Chinese medicine not only addresses the symptom or the tinnitus (referred to as the branch), but also the underlying imbalance (or the root). By treating the root, the actual disharmony is broken and the body returns to optimal health.
Acupuncture can reduce symptoms of tinnitus in some cases. It’s particularly effective for ones that might be associated with hypertension because of its effect with blood circulation. It may help pain conditions such as chronic neck pain or TMJ.
For more information about how acupuncture and other treatments can help you, please contact the Urban Acupuncture Center Board Certified Licensed Acupuncturist’s team at Indianola Ave, Clintonville (614) 725-2488 | Main St, Westerville (614) 426-4406 or click here. Taking new patients in and around greater Columbus, Ohio.