Sudden deafness｜Effects of Acupuncture Treatment
Update 2023.04.12
Is acupuncture effective in treating sudden hearing loss?Acupuncture treatment as soon as possible after the onset of the disease will, of course, increase its effectiveness, but even severe sudden hearing loss that does not improve with intravenous steroids or intra-ventricular steroid infusion therapy can improve in 60 percent of cases if the four requirements of acupuncture can be met.
The patient's hearing did not improve after hospitalization and intravenous steroid and prostaglandin E1 infusion therapy, and he was subsequently discharged with scale-out on all frequencies, and his hearing did not improve after 8 intratympanic steroid infusion therapies.
What is Scale-out?
The condition in which no sound is heard at all is called "scaled out" in a hearing test. It is indicated by a 
mark on the test result (✕---- for the left ear and ✕ for the right ear).
Before acupuncture
After acupuncture
The scale-out improved after 8 acupuncture treatments. In many cases, if the treatment is continued, it improves to about 40 decibels, but the patient wanted to continue the treatment, so he was transferred to a nearby acupuncture clinic.
N.S., Tokyo, Japan
I had a sudden hearing loss and was treated at a hospital in Tokyo, but my hearing did not return and I was sinking every day with anxiety and fear that I would lose my hearing in my healthy ear as well. At that time, I learned about Morigami Acupuncture and Osteoporosis Clinic on the Internet and asked for treatment, hoping to catch a straw. It was my first acupuncture treatment and I was in pain and anxious, but thanks to the kindness of the director and staff and the careful treatment, my symptoms gradually improved, and I am sincerely grateful. My symptoms are getting better and I am planning to look for an acupuncture clinic in Tokyo for future visits.
I am concerned that my hearing on the healthy side is declining, but I still think my hearing will recover, so continue acupuncture treatment well. Please find an acupuncture clinic in Tokyo that can measure acupuncture audiograms because the standards for audiograms for otolaryngology are different. I am sure that an acupuncture clinic will be able to help you.
Moriue Acupuncture and Moxibustion Osteopathic Clinic
Minako Yoshike, Vice President
Although there is no institution that officially studies acupuncture for sudden hearing loss, acupuncture is effective in treating sudden hearing loss. Acupuncture also seems to have a different effect than the therapeutic effect of steroids. If limited to sudden hearing loss alone, the efficacy rate is close to that of the "Study of treatment of sensorineural hearing loss by inner ear administration of recombinant human insulin-like cell growth factor-1 using bioabsorbable sustained-release gel for acute severe hearing loss cases," which was conducted as a clinical trial at Kyoto University. Director Hiroaki Yoshiike
Stress is known to adversely affect the immune system by decreasing capillary blood flow. For those whose sudden hearing loss does not improve, acupuncture for stress often increases the effectiveness of treatment by several orders of magnitude.
When the sympathetic nervous system is under stress, blood flow to the face and limbs is reduced, which in turn reduces the immune system and natural healing ability, making it difficult to heal illnesses, one of the causes of sudden hearing loss that ENT doctors are not interested in.
Before treatment
After treatment
Facial blood flow Before and after treatment
Acupuncture produces the hormone serotonin in the brain, which improves blood circulation, restores blood flow to the inner ear, strengthens the immune system, and facilitates recovery from sudden hearing loss.
Even modern medicine is unable to diagnose stress by imaging, but the place in the brain where stress is processed has a center that regulates body temperature, so mapping the whole body with thermography can confirm the state of stress. Acupuncture according to the state of stress can enhance the natural healing power and increase the effectiveness of treatment for sudden hearing loss.
It is a fact that many otolaryngologists describe sudden hearing loss as an ear infarction, but many people's sudden hearing loss improves with acupuncture treatment that changes the body's constitution to be less prone to infarction.
economy class syndrome
Poor blood flow in the calf can lead to blood clots Most patients with sudden hearing loss have abnormal blood flow in the calf, so we treat the calf to improve blood flow
Before treatment
After treatment
Calf blood flow Before and after treatment
The calf is said to be the second heart, and improved calf motion improves blood flow in the microvasculature, which improves blood flow to the inner ear, thus speeding up recovery from sudden hearing loss.
Patients with slow recovery from sudden hearing loss often have compression of the vertebral artery, which supplies blood flow to the inner ear and autonomic nerve, and acupuncture treatment while checking with an echo improves blood flow to the vertebral artery, which enhances the inner ear's natural healing ability.
In the course of acupuncture treatment for patients with sudden hearing loss, we discovered that there are three types of sudden hearing loss.
Stress-induced left ear sudden hearing loss
The temperature of the neck on the side of the sudden hearing loss decreasesThe audiogram often shows a low-pitched hearing loss in the audiogram when stress is highThe thermogram shows a leopard speckled patternStress-induced sudden hearing loss can be treated with acupuncture, which relaxes the tense sympathetic nervous system and effectively speeds up hearing recoveryIf long-term stress is the cause, steroids often do not work, but acupuncture is a very effective treatment for sudden hearing loss
Left ear sudden hearing loss caused by deterioration of blood circulation
The temperature of the hands and feet is often decreased, usually due to a crooked neck and inflammation.
Left ear sudden hearing loss due to inflammation
The most common type of sudden hearing loss is after a cold, fever, or immunization. The hearing loss is often severe, but when the immune system is strengthened by acupuncture, the hearing is often restored from low tones.
Just as you can tell the skill of a craftsman by looking at the tools he uses, there are tools necessary for specialized acupuncture treatment for sudden hearing loss.
Specialized testing and acupuncture for sudden hearing loss
Hearing tests, blood flow to the inner ear using echo, and stress and autonomic imbalance using thermography are all performed by the acupuncturist, and even the smallest details are utilized in subsequent acupuncture treatment.
Auscultation
Bone and air conductivity testing with an emphasis on the ability to hear
Echographic examination
Test blood flow to the inner ear in the most common posture in daily life
Thermo-inspection
Autonomic balance and stress conditions are tested.
日本語
中文