• Relationship between trigger point points and tinnitus in patients referred to the ENT ward of Ahvaz hospitals
  • Ebrahim kharazinejad,1,* ali vahidifakhr,2 Daryoush Didehdar,3
    1. Abadan University of Medical Sciences, Abadan, Iran.
    2. Student Research Committee, Abadan University Of Medical Sciences, Abadan, Iran.
    3. Physiotherapy Department, Behbahan Faculty of Medical sciences, Behbahan, Iran


  • Introduction: Trigger points are nodules in the muscles that surrounded by a rigid tissue. Therefore, this study performed to investigate the relationship between trigger points and tinnitus.
  • Methods: 60 participants with an age range of 18 to 55 years, including 30 women and 30 men with inclusion criteria that include persistent or intermittent tinnitus and complaints of pain (in the head, neck or shoulder girdle) during the past 3 months Presence of at least one active myofascial trigger points on physical examination, age 18-55 years, both sexes, with a sensitive tactile point in the upper trapezius muscle. Production of pain in the person when touching, the sign of a jump marked by the patient's voice or withdrawal, restriction of neck movements due to pain, was chosen.The severity of tinnitus was recorded by numerical rating scale (NRS), then the trigger points of pain were measured by algometer and the limitation of neck movement with a goniometer, and then the relationship between them and tinnitus was determined.
  • Results: The rate of tinnitus in the left ear was 53.3% and in the right ear was 46.7%. The mean score of tinnitus among patients was 5.38 with a standard deviation of 1.99. In this study, no significant relationship was found between trigger points and tinnitus.
  • Conclusion: The results showed that there is no relationship between trigger points and tinnitus according to the variables of age groups, type of sex, comorbid disease, level of education, ear side and tinnitus time.
  • Keywords: Tinnitus, trigger points, comorbidities