Why I Stopped Wearing Over-the-Ear Headphones
The Pain that Wouldn’t Go Away Wasn’t What I Thought
I decided to share this experience in the event that anyone else may be having these physical issues that seem “untraceable”, but happen to coincide with something so basic that you might overlook it as an issue. Over the ear headphones can be an issue for some people in regards to causing physical pain, an in an overuse type injury. I found that the squeezing of them on my Temporal muscles around my ears and the reverb of the music through my head put too much stress on the Temporal muscle itself, causing jaw pain, neck tension and no relief in sight.
As you may or may not know, I am an avid exerciser. I’ve been in the gym going on 25 years now, consistently. I’ve used headphones for my music long before blue tooth was a thing and I detested the earbuds because I felt that they hurt the inside of my ear. However, after several pairs of over the ear headphones trying to get something less “squeezy” on my head, I found no matter how gentle they seemed it still caused Temporal tension, jaw pain and neck tension. Stretching it out didn’t work, so I had to start looking at the solution. When I realized that it kept coming back and stronger after a workout than any other time of day, I went a day without music in my ears and it felt a little better. I then used a pair of ear buds and noticed that the tension wasn’t there. It’s been three weeks since I’ve used my over the head earphones and this is what my conclusion is: They caused my Temporal muscles severe trauma, which instigated my jaw pain and neck tension that I could never seem to get rid of no matter how much I stretched. I struggled with this for months until I figured it out and once I did, the tension was eased immediately and after three weeks, in spite of a car accident , the tension, pain and clicking (in my jaw) are gone. And I do mean gone.
So what does this mean for you? It means that if you are having a tension, pain or issue that doesn’t seem to be changed no matter what you do, dietary changes, stretching, strengthening, sleeping or massage, you MUST look at what you’re doing in your every day life that could possibly be contributing to it. It’s the only option and we owe it to our tissues to figure it out. Once we give our tissues what they want, we get what we want, a once again harmonious interaction with our body that brings about pain free and ample movement.
I hope this helps you figure out your tension issues. Until next time…
That’s the Rub,
Lisa
