Tinnitus after Long Covid

Tinnitus after Covid is affecting an estimated 15% of the population (BBC news, 19/04/22).
Disappointingly, massage was not suggested as a possible solution.
However this fabulous muscle, the sternocleidomastoid, causes a number of effects in the body including tinnitus and dizziness. Now, I am not saying this is the fix for all tinnitus but it is certainly worth exploring. Can you see how part of the muscle attaches to the front of the chest at the top of the sternum? Breathing is affected in many people with Covid and this part of the rib cage would be involved in the excessive shallow breathing that can occur during and post infection.
The disrupted breathing could pull on the entire muscle including the opposite end of the muscle where it attaches just behind the ear. Irritable areas within this muscle (called trigger points) are known to contribute to tinnitus, headaches, eye drop and dizziness. Treating this muscle can lead to a huge reduction in symptoms.
So, if you haven’t tried some massage to treat your tinnitus it is definitely worth contacting ac linical massage therapist who can treat this muscle.
#longcovid #tinnitus #longcovidtinnitus #longcoviddysautonomia #dysautonomia
The sternocleidomastoid (SCM) muscle.
Figure reproduced from: “BodyParts3D, © The Database Center for Life Science licensed under CC Attribution-Share Alike 2.1 Japan. (Anatomography, CC BY-SA 2.1 JP <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.1/jp/deed.en>, via Wikimedia Commons)