Effects of greater occipital nerve block on tinnitus and dizziness

We analyzed relationships among tinnitus relief, dizziness, and results of vertical autocorrelation studies of head movement to investigate the effect of greater occipital nerve block on the sensory and motor system in 2 patients with abnormal head movement. Tinnitus improved in 14 (52%) of 28 tinnitus patients after occipital nerve block. The percentage of patients reporting tinnitus improvement (54%, or 7 patients) among 13 patients without a history of trauma was not significantly higher than among 12 patients with trauma (33% or 4 patients). However, tinnitus improvement in patients with dizziness but without trauma was more frequent than that reported by nontraumatic tinnitus patients without dizziness (p<.05). Vertical autocorrelation results while stepping in place were better in patients with tinnitus relief than in those not reporting tinnitus relief (p =.001). Dizziness improved in 8 of 13 patients (62%) with trauma, similar to improvement in 8 of 14 patients without trauma (57%). Improved word perception test results in the presence of noise suggested that improvement in tinnitus and dizziness after occipital nerve block was related to improved attention.