Effectiveness of Pranayama (Yogic Breathing Exercise) on Management of Somatosensory Tinnitus: A Single Case Study

Abstract

Somatic or somatosensory tinnitus is a subtype of subjective tinnitus, in which tinnitus perception is caused by an alteration in somatosensory afference from the cervical spine or temporo-mandibular area which changes patient’s tinnitus perception in terms of loudness, pitch and localization. A 30-year-old female reported with the complaint of tinnitus, vertigo and reduced hearing sensitivity in the left ear for 7 months. Enduring low frequency annoying tinnitus flare ups with vertigo, vomiting and speech understanding difficulty every 48-72hours. Successive audiological investigations and THI score revealed mild sensorineural hearing loss in the left ear with grade 5 catastrophic handicap. Tinnitus retraining Therapy (TRT) along with pranayama (yogic exercise) was used as a treatment protocol. Nadi Shodhana (Alternate-Nostril Breath- one of the most efficient strategies for calming nerves and settling mind fluctuations) was practised twice daily and during the treatment sessions. Effectiveness of TRT combined with Yoga on a patient with severe tinnitus & accompanying issues was investigated. This treatment strategy proved to be highly effective in lowering tinnitus severity and reducing the accompanying issues with long term effectiveness. As a result, present study enlightens the possible success rate of this treatment protocol for somatosensory tinnitus and its impact on tinnitus recurrence. Key words: Somatosensory tinnitus, TMJ, Pranayama, TRT, Catastrophic handicap.