Tinnitus: what upper cervical research has looked at

The ringing is loudest when the house is quiet. The hearing test came back fine, and you were told to learn to tune it out.

How we approach tinnitus →

Illustration: white headphones whose blue cable branches into nerve threads

Tinnitus often travels with other things: a full feeling in the ear, dizziness, jaw pain, a tight neck. Each of the published upper cervical reports below describes someone with ringing alongside other symptoms. If ringing is your main concern, the Ringing Assessment asks the five questions we ask on day one.

4 studies on this page

Designs: Case report
Published: 2000 to 2026

Where these studies sit, by design and year

4 studies, published 2000 to 2026. Strongest design: case report.

the studies

What each study looked at

Strongest study design first. The dots show the design, from a single case (one dot) to a controlled trial (four). How to read this library

Case report2026Knee Chest upper cervical

A 44-year-old office worker with three years of vertigo and suspected Ménière's disease

Who and how many: One woman, 44, with episodes of vertigo, imbalance, ringing in her right ear, a full feeling in that ear, headache and anxiety. Her working diagnosis was Ménière's disease, and medication had helped only a little.
What was measured: Posture, neck motion, balance testing and thermography at the start, then the Bournemouth Questionnaire (a 0 to 70 score of how much symptoms affect daily life) across 36 visits of Knee Chest upper cervical care.
What was found: Her score went from 60 to 17 by the end of her first care plan, with fewer vertigo spells and better balance, ringing, sleep and anxiety. Partway through care she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Most of the gains held, with some mild slipping in the exam findings during that time.
Limits: One person and no comparison. Vestibular migraine was not ruled out. The author calls the findings hypothesis-generating only and says controlled studies are needed.

Read the abstract on PubMed → Source 1

Case report2020OrthospinologyNot indexed in PubMed

A 68-year-old woman with eight years of Ménière's disease

Who and how many: One woman, 68, diagnosed with Ménière's disease, with eight years of worsening vertigo, roaring tinnitus and vomiting. Earlier chiropractic and nutritional care had not helped.
What was measured: Her symptoms, and her ENT's assessment, over 13 months of Orthospinology care with 10 pre-calculated atlas corrections.
What was found: After five months her ENT found she was no longer showing Ménière's symptoms. Over the course of care she reported one episode of minor dizziness and no further vertigo, roaring tinnitus or vomiting.
Limits: One person and no comparison. Ménière's disease can have long quiet spells on its own, which a single case can't separate from care.

Read the abstract on the journal's site → Source 2

Case report2002Gonstead, at the atlas

A 41-year-old woman with jaw problems, ear pain, ringing and vertigo

Who and how many: One woman, 41, with ear pain on both sides, tinnitus, vertigo, reduced hearing and headaches, diagnosed with temporomandibular joint (TMJ) syndrome. Care from a medical doctor and a dentist had not helped.
What was measured: Her symptoms over the course of care directed at the atlas.
What was found: Her symptoms improved and then resolved after 9 visits.
Limits: One person, and the result is her own report. The technique was Gonstead, a full-spine method that uses a quick, high-velocity correction, applied here to the atlas. That is a different style of care from the orthogonal approach used at our office.

Read the abstract on PubMed → Source 3

Case report2000Upper cervical specific

A 75-year-old woman with vertigo, ringing in the ears and hearing loss

Who and how many: One woman, 75, with long-standing vertigo, tinnitus and hearing loss that had grown worse in the five weeks before she came in. X-rays showed degenerative changes in the lower neck.
What was measured: Hearing tests, X-rays, a quality-of-life survey (RAND 36), and skin temperature readings along the spine, which were used to decide when a correction was needed.
What was found: Over the course of upper cervical care her symptoms eased, her hearing test results improved, and follow-up X-rays showed structural and functional change.
Limits: One person and no comparison group. A single case can describe what happened; it can't show why.

Read the abstract on PubMed → Source 4

before you draw conclusions

What this research does and doesn't tell you

All four are single-person case reports, and in each one the ringing was one symptom among several. No controlled study on this list has measured tinnitus on its own. Hearing changes deserve a proper hearing evaluation as well.

Published research can't predict what will happen for any one person, including you. Studies report averages and single stories; your nervous system is your own. That is why The Lazar Method^™ starts with measurement, not with a promise.

We measure first, so the answer is about you, not an average.

Before any correction we measure how your nervous system is regulating your body: heart rate variability, thermal and muscle tone scans, PostureIQ™, and digital X-ray of the upper neck. QSM3, the method used at our office, is a progression of NUCCA. Dr. Jonathan Lazar, D.C., or someone personally trained by him, will go over your scans and images with you.

If we can help, we'll tell you. If we can't, we'll help you find someone who can.

Talk it through on a 15-minute Clarity Call →

This page is educational and is not medical advice. Keep the doctors who know you in the loop.

citations

Sources

Rai S. 2026. Resolution of Treatment-Resistant Vertigo and Suspected Ménière's Disease Following Knee Chest Upper Cervical Chiropractic Care: A Case Report. Cureus 18(7):e113493. PubMed 42534238 · DOI 10.7759/cureus.113493 · free full text
Berner N, Steward T. 2020. Resolution of Meniere’s Disease in a 68-Year-Old Female Following Upper Cervical Chiropractic to Reduce Atlas Subluxation Using Orthospinology Technique: A Case Study & Review of Literature Journal of Upper Cervical Chiropractic Research April 27, 2020:8-14. Not indexed in PubMed. Article page on vertebralsubluxationresearch.com
Alcantara J, Plaugher G, Klemp DD, Salem C. 2002. Chiropractic care of a patient with temporomandibular disorder and atlas subluxation. J Manipulative Physiol Ther 25(1):63-70. PubMed 11898020 · DOI 10.1067/mmt.2002.120415
Kessinger RC, Boneva DV. 2000. Vertigo, tinnitus, and hearing loss in the geriatric patient. J Manipulative Physiol Ther 23(5):352-62. PubMed 10863256

Titles are quoted exactly as published. Sources checked 2026-11-03.

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