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Tinnitus - Natural Treatment and Management

ENJOY the SILENCE with this breakthrough treatment for tinnitus



Human Ear Is your Tinnitus driving you mad? It is a sad fact that around 10% of the population have tinnitus at one time or another, and for some the relentless noise is constant. Despite the fact that tinnitus is a common disorder relatively few studies have been funded compared to other medical issues with the same prevelance, and the options for treatment are not only disapointingly few, but the success rate is even less.

I am not claiming to have created a panacea for tinnitus with this new treatment, far from it. I wish that were possible. But as a physical therapist with nearly 2 decades of practical bodywork skills and experience, I have approached the issues that surrounds tinnitus in a logical and physical way, followed by help in a mental and spiritual way.

What do you mean in a logical way?
Well, your tinnitus is not the same as somebody else's tinnitus. The noises are different, how you react is different, the duration and strength of sound is different as are a lot of other parameters. This is part of the difficulty of creating a treatment that covers most sufferers experience.

So instead, we accept that while everyone has an individual experience, the commonality of symptoms includes unwanted noise.

What else is common among sufferers?
Well, all the physical features of the outer ear, the inner ear and its constituent parts, its position on the head, the use to which it is put, the ligaments, muscles and cartilage attached to the surrounding area, and the kinds of problems and diseases the ear is prone to suffer from.

I began to wonder about the effects of muscles inside the ear that are not palpable, and nerves that travel through the inner ear canal that are being electrically stimulated in other areas of the face, head and neck. What affect might these things have on the workings of the inner ear?

For example, did you know that the fascial nerve follows a course through the auditory canal, passing round the wall of the tympanic cavity on it's way to somewhere else via the facial canal and emerging via the stylomastoid foramen. The fascial nerve branches into three here, only one of which inervates with the stapedius muscle, attached to the stapes, one of the bones of the inner ear, and has the influence of dampening down your own voice and loud external noises, so they don't do any damage to the inner ear.

The facial nerve influences taste, facial expression and voice, it creates tears, registers smell, reports on sinus cavity activity, salivary production and taste. I wonder, with all these branches, if there is any dysfunction in the nerve, such as paralysis, or palsy, or viral complications, what is the likelihood of this causing nerve disruption in other areas, such as the stapes and stapedius muscle, and therefore causing tinnitus? I don't know for sure, it's just a question.

The chorda tympani nerve is a branch of the facial nerve that also runs through the middle ear, it carries taste messages to the brain from the taste buds in the front of the tongue. It passes between the malleous and incus bones of the inner ear, the very bones responsible for transferring sound vibration down toward the cochlea. So what is it doing making a rat run through the tympanic cavity? Again, I just ask the question, does it really need to be there?

Another interesting idea has to do with the eustacian tube. Your eustacian tube is a narrow pipe that goes from the back of your upper palate behind your nose and ends inside the middle ear, or tympanic cavity. Its job is to keep the air pressure equal on both sides of the tympanic membrane. The tube is normally closed, but is opened momentarily when we swallow or yawn by the action of two muscles, the Levator and Tensor Palati muscles. In all the literature I've read on the subject I've only every once come across a paper that talked about what to do if these two muscles ever go into spasm. You cannot palpate them directly as they are inside the skull.

The sterno-cleido-mastoid muscle and the temporo-mandibular joint, both strong, anchoring structures which support other parts of the body cause huge stresses on either side of the external auditory meatus, the hole in the skull where the ear goes internal. What stresses do these structures pass on to the ear and it's delicate parts through leverage and pressure? A structural engineer would have a nervous breakdown trying to design a structure that would withstand these kinds of forces so close to a delicate, nerve sensitive organ.

How much influence the carotid artery, jugular vein and vertebral arteries have on tinnitus is anybody's guess, but if you put a stethoscope anywhere near any of your arteries, the noise can be quite deafening (thankfully). Does high, low or irregular heart beat have an influence on the amount of noise you can hear? I know if I lie still and quiet, I can hear my own heartbeat in my ears quite clearly. Can you?

Lastly, I was watching a nature program on TV which was all about dolphins and other sea creatures that use echo location. Echo location, depending on species, uses clicks, buzzes, hiss, electricity, radar and all manner of other signal output to manoeuvre their way through the water and locate prey. Well, doesn't evolution suggest that we walked out of the sea millions of years ago? Did we have huge cavernous domes in our head that used these same principles at some point in our past? Could our sinus cavities be a distant relic of the way dolphins hear these clicks? If so, how does this relate to the same clicks, hisses and buzzing heard by tinnitus suffers?

The reason I suggest these things to you is because its got me questioning what collective effect do any of these annomalies have on the ears and our hearing, if anything at all? Has anyone looked at these possibilities? I doubt it very seriously.

What does your tinnitus treatment consist of?
That's a good question because it has come from many individual parts that have been brought together over several years to create this new treatment.
  • We start with ear candling or thermal auricular therapy. Ear candling involves placing a hollow, wax-covered candle just inside the ear while you lie on your side, and lighting the outer end. Ear candling is very gentle, non-invasive and comfortable. It is a relaxing, therapeutic and painless therapy which calms the mind and soothes the head and ears. This helps to reduce stress which is a major contributor to tinnitus.

  • Then we do the Dix-Hallpike test to ensure there is nothing in the inner ear that might cause vertigo or BPPV (benign paroxysmal positional vertigo) of the posterior or anterior canals.

  • Then we perform the Epley manoeuvre. The goal of the Epley manoeuvre is to restore equilibrium of the vestibular system, just in case this is directly or indirectly causing or supporting your tinnitus.

  • Next we do some work on your TMJ (Temporomandibular joint), the lower part of your jaw that moves up, down and sideways when you talk and chew food. You may or may not have thought about it, but the hinged section of your mandible is less than a finger width away from your ear hole (external auditory meatus) in the skull. The jaw has a wide area of influence around the side of the head and scalp, and by association, deep within the head. A tight jaw, or an off-centre jaw can be supported by very strong muscles that will succumb to some persuasive massage techniques.

  • After this I will work on all the upper lymphatic channels and perform Manual Lymphatic Drainage to both sides of the face and head, including the pre and post auricular lymph nodes, all of the lymphatics in the forehead, under the eye, along the cheek, around the nose, and in particular, along and under the jaw, down towards the cervical chain of lymph nodes.

    This will ensure that any toxicity that results as a build up from any reduction in circulation is cleared. It feels a little bit like a gentle facial massage, but with added benefits. The head always feels a little clearer afterwards, like someone pulled a plug. Mental and visual clarity increases, as does hearing, taste and smell.

  • Last, but not least, we massage along the line of the zygomatic arch from the ear to the lower eye and the zygomatic bone that extends under the eyes to the nose. There are many muscles attached to these bones and the idea of working these is to support and influence the eustatian tube that opens in the back upper section of the nasal cavity and terminates in the middle ear.
I have been doing all of these individual treatments for over 15 years, but it is only recently that I thought of bringing them altogether to target the problems and issues caused by tinnitus. So far the results have been very promising, but I continue to find new ways of improving the outcome for the majority of patients and hope that very soon I will be able to train other therapists in this technique, so that more and more people may enjoy the benefits of this work.

Personal Note: I have tinnitus on an irregular basis. It sounds like a high pitch squeal, mainly in the right ear, but at a lower pitch in the left ear. When this happens, I open and close my mouth fully and move my jaw from side to side. Almost invariably, the tinnitus vanishes! This has led me to the conclusion that the jaw plays a very large part in the prevalance of tinnitus; at least in my own experience.

How much does it cost and what commitment do you need from me?
Regretably, there are no shortcuts with this treatment, at least for the first visit. The first time you come will likely take a whole 2 hours, so it will be necessary to book a double appointment at the start. See the appointments page for current prices.

Once we ascertain what elements work best for you, we can bring the time down to one hour sessions and the cost will be one regular session price, plus the candles, if we continue to use that treatment element.

The only commitment I need from you is to come regularly for long enough to make a difference. We occasionally have our Eureka moments, but most of us mere mortals take a little more persuading and persistence. I do hope you have the stamina for that because it is clear the more you allow your body to relax and de-stress, the more likely you are to have a good result.

This is why I have tried to combine very practical ways of influencing the tinnitus in a physical way and adding the bonus of relaxing massage of the vital areas into the treatment, giving you the best chance of achieving both.

Two years of research and practical therapy went into producing this technique which is why I am inviting you to give it a chance to help your flavour of tinnitus. Only you know what effort you have invested over the years in order to find the answer, and I do understand this can make you sceptical. The phrase, 'I've tried everything' is quite common and exasperation leads to the conclusion there is no help out there. I implore you to try this. Please contact me if you want to find out about bookings, appointments and prices. I look forward to welcoming you soon. Phil.

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All These Areas Are Within Easy Reach of The Haven Healing Centre, Cheddar, Somerset
Abbots Leigh - Ashwick - Avonmouth - Axbridge - Babington - Backwell - Badgworth - Bagley - Banwell - Barrow Gurney - Bason Bridge - Bath - Beckington - Berrow - Biddisham - Bishop Sutton - Bitton - Blackford - Blagdon - Bleadon - Bleadney - Bradford-on-Avon - Brean - Brent Knoll - Bristol - Burnham-on-Sea - Burrington - Butcombe - Cameley - Catcott - Chantry - Chapel Allerton - Cheddar - Chelwood - Chew Magna - Chew Stoke - Chilcompton - Churchill - Clapton - Claverham - Claverton - Cleeve - Clevedon - Clutton - Cocklake - Coleford - Compton Bishop - Compton Dando - Compton Martin - Congresbury - Coxley - Cranmore - Cross - Downhead - Draycott - Dundry - Dunkerton - East Brent - East Harptree - East Huntspill - Easton-in-Gordano - Edithmead - Emborough - Englishcombe - Evercreech - Failand - Farmborough - Farrington Gurney - Felton - Flax Bourton - Freshford - Frome - Glastonbury - Godney - Green Ore - Gurney Slade - Highbridge - Highbury - High Littleton - Hinton Blewett - Hutton - Inglesbatch - Kelston - Kenn - Kewstoke - Keynsham - Kilmersdon - Kingston Seymour - Langford - Litton - Locking - Long Ashton - Lower Weare - Loxton - Lympsham - Mark - Marksbury - Mells - Midsomer Norton - Monkton Combe - Nailsea - Nempnett Thrubwell - Nettlebridge - Newbury - Oldmixon - Paulton - Peasedown - Pensford - Pilton - Portishead - Prestleigh - Priddy - Priston - Pucklechurch - Pudlow - Puxton - Queen Charlton - Radstock - Redhill - Rickford - Ridgehill - Rodney Stoke - Rooks Bridge - Rowberrow - Saltford - Sandford - Shapwick - Shepton Mallet - Shipham - Sidcot - Somerton - Stanton Drew - Star - Staverton - St Georges - Stoke St Michael - Ston Easton - Stone Bridge - Stowey - Street - Temple Cloud - Tickenham - Timsbury - Trowbridge - Ubley - Weare - Wedmore - Wellow - Wells - West Harptree - West Horrington - Weston-Super-Mare - West Pennard - Whatley - Whitchurch - Winford - Winscombe - Wookey - Wraxall - Wrington - Yatton
To book your Tinnitus Therapy Session at a convenient time, call: 01934 740275

Note: DISCLAIMER: This information is not presented by a medical practitioner and is for educational and informational purposes only. The content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read.

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