Have you ever experienced an annoying ringing in the ears? Was it after, or during, a period of neck pain following some kind of neck injury?
While these two things might seem entirely unconnected, you might be surprised to know that neck pain and tinnitus can be linked.
Lots of our readers are asking “Can a Neck Injury Cause Ringing in the Ears?”, we have the answers for you. If you’ve recently suffered neck injuries, especially work-related injuries, continue reading to learn about how they might be related to that ringing in your ears.
What is Tinnitus?
Tinnitus is the perception of ringing in the ears. It’s not actually a standalone condition. It’s a symptom of a greater problem.
Tinnitus isn’t often a mark of a serious condition, but if it’s persistent, it can be bothersome. While the noise is generally described as a “ringing”, it can also present as a variety of other noises that present themselves without cause. That is, no actual external sound is happening.
It can go away on its own, or be improved with treatment. The underlying cause of the tinnitus is often what needs to be treated in order to allow the ringing to stop.
Tinnitus has many causes, from normal aging to respiratory infections.
Neck Pain and Tinnitus
If you’ve recently had a neck injury, you might now be wondering if your neck pain and your tinnitus are related. There’s a chance that they could be.
In a study of 2,400 patients suffering from chronic tinnitus, 297 of them reported that they had recently encountered some kind of trauma to their neck or head. One-third of these patients had only suffered damage to their necks, while the other two-thirds had a mix of head and neck injuries.
The severity of this tinnitus is, on average, more extreme than that of other tinnitus sufferers, causing patients to seek help earlier than people who had tinnitus that was brought on from other causes.
Tinnitus from head or neck injuries caused more problems in the day-to-day lives of the patients and evolved quickly to severe tinnitus instead of building slowly. This means that the patients were unable to adapt to their new conditions as they would if it were a gradual change.
Is it Curable?
Treating tinnitus means treating the underlying condition causing it. For this reason, it’s important to find a doctor who specializes in neck injuries to consult about your condition and deal with your neck pain and tinnitus.
Every case is different, and it varies based on the injury. That said, there has been some success with physical therapy and cervical collars to treat tinnitus associated with neck pain.
Have You Been Suffering From Tinnitus?
If you’ve been suffering from ringing in the ears, it might be time to seek out a physical therapist or another specialist to consult about your condition.
If this came from a work-related injury, a workers’ comp doctor might be able to help. Neck pain and tinnitus can be managed with help from a specialist.
For more information on specialists, or to find a doctor for yourself, visit our site. We help New York workers find doctors to suit their accident injury needs.