Cervical exercise program for individuals with somatosensory tinnitus

INTERVENTION: This was a randomized, controlled, two‐arm clinical trial with no blinding; thirty participants with somatosensory tinnitus were randomly allocated to two groups, with 16 participants in the test group and 14 in the control group; randomization was performed by simple drawing using two identical slips of paper labeled Test Group and Control Group; for each participant, a person not involved in the conduct of the study drew one of the slips, which was returned and mixed again before the next draw, so that each participant had an equal probability of being allocated to either group; the test group received a structured cervical exercise program for four weeks, consisting of mobility, motor control, strengthening, and cervical and scapular stability exercises; the protocol included one supervised session per week conducted by a physiotherapist, combined with daily home exercises; the control group received no intervention during the four‐week period and maintained their usual care, serving as the comparator to the test group; after completion of the post‐intervention assessments, participants in the control group received the same exercise protocol provided to the test group CONDITION: C09.218.458 Tinnitus ; Hearing Disorders PRIMARY OUTCOME: To evaluate the change in tinnitus impact after four weeks of intervention using the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory by comparing pre‐ and post‐intervention scores between groups SECONDARY OUTCOME: To evaluate the change in neck pain and disability using the Neck Bournemouth Questionnaire after four weeks of intervention by comparing the scores obtained before and after the intervention between the groups To evaluate the change in tinnitus impact using the Visual Analog Scale after four weeks of intervention by comparing the scores obtained before and after the intervention between the groups INCLUSION CRITERIA: Individuals aged 18 years or older; with or without mild to moderate hearing loss; of both sexes; presence of neck pain and/or tension; diagnosis of somatosensory tinnitus according to the criteria of the decision tree proposed by Michiels et al. (2022), including simultaneous increase or decrease in tinnitus and neck pain; in cases of uncertainty regarding the relationship between tinnitus and pain, presence of suboccipital muscle tension on most days or every day associated with somatic modulation of tinnitus; presence of bruxism as a complementary criterion in cases of simultaneous variation in tinnitus and neck pain and absence of suboccipital muscle tension