Clicking Sound in the Head While Running
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Clicking Sound in the Head While Running

Clicking Sound in the Head While Running
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Updated on July 31, 2025
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Clicking in your ear when running may mean you have tinnitus, but it can also result from other mechanical causes, like temporomandibular joint issues or eustachian tube dysfunction.

Tinnitus can be a symptom of other conditions, such as hearing loss and jaw joint disorders. It produces sounds such as ringing or clicking in your ears and head.

Although exercise generally helps relieve the stress associated with tinnitus, high-impact activities, such as running, may exacerbate it. Your doctor may be able to determine the specific cause of the clicking noises in your head, but a clear diagnosis is not always found.

What Is Tinnitus?

Tinnitus is a common symptom. It's when you experience hearing sensations, such as ringing, roaring, buzzing, and clicking, in your head or ears when no other noise is present.

Tinnitus can occur for many reasons, including ear or hearing problems, ear injuries, excessive earwax, sinus infections, brain tumors, heart disorders, and blood vessel diseases. It can also occur for no apparent reason at all.

Tinnitus can appear in one or both ears and can come and go. Sometimes the sounds may be heard along with each heartbeat, called pulsatile tinnitus.

The repeated high-impact motions experienced in running may negatively affect tiny parts of your ears associated with hearing and increase the presence of tinnitus. Listening to white noise or other low sounds while you run or at other times may help tinnitus go away, at least temporarily.

Tinnitus can occur on its own or overlap with other conditions, such as temporomandibular joint disorders or eustachian tube dysfunction. These conditions can also produce clicking sounds.

Temporomandibular Joint Disorders

Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorders can result in tinnitus and pain in your jaw joint, which allows you to chew and talk.

TMJ disorders can occur from muscle fatigue produced by clenching or grinding your teeth and from arthritis. Symptoms of TMJ disorders include jaw, ear, or facial pain as well as uncomfortable chewing and headache.

TMJ disorders can also create a clicking sound in your head when you open your mouth or when you compress your teeth. Exercises in which your teeth tend to clamp together, such as running and jogging, can exacerbate TMJ disorder symptoms. Brisk walking may provide an easier way to exercise and relieve stress without clamping your jaw.

Eustachian Tube Dysfunction

Eustachian tube dysfunction can also result in cracking, clicking, or popping noises when you run and at other times.

Your eustachian tubes are small passages that connect the upper part of your throat to your middle ears. They open when you sneeze, swallow, or yawn to allow airflow. When one of your eustachian tubes gets clogged by mucus due to a sinus infection, a cold, or allergies, you may experience the sounds of tinnitus.

Clogged eustachian tubes can also cause pain in one or both of your ears, and you may have difficulty keeping your balance. Altitude changes, such as when flying, riding in elevators, diving, or running at high elevations, can exacerbate your symptoms, including tinnitus.

To help relieve eustachian tube dysfunction, you can try swallowing, yawning, and chewing gum. You can also try taking a deep breath and breathing out with your mouth closed and your nostrils pinched together.

The Takeaway

  • Clicking sounds in the head while running can result from tinnitus and underlying mechanical issues of the TMJ and eustachian tubes.
  • Hearing loss, an earwax blockage, and jaw problems can cause tinnitus. Sometimes, there’s no obvious cause for tinnitus that leads to clicking while running.
  • If you’re bothered by persistent tinnitus, it’s best to see a doctor for diagnosis and treatment.
EDITORIAL SOURCES
Everyday Health follows strict sourcing guidelines to ensure the accuracy of its content, outlined in our editorial policy. We use only trustworthy sources, including peer-reviewed studies, board-certified medical experts, patients with lived experience, and information from top institutions.
Resources
  1. Tinnitus: Symptoms and Causes. Mayo Clinic. November 30, 2022.
  2. Tinnitus: Diagnosis and Treatment. Mayo Clinic. November 30, 2022.
  3. Temporomandibular Joint (TMJ) Disorders. Cleveland Clinic. May 15, 2023.
  4. Eustachian Tube Dysfunction. American Academy of Family Physicians. September 2024.
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Justin Laube, MD

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Justin Laube, MD, is a board-certified integrative and internal medicine physician, a teacher, and a consultant with extensive expertise in integrative health, medical education, and trauma healing.

He graduated with a bachelor's in biology from the University of Wisconsin and a medical degree from the University of Minnesota Medical School. During medical school, he completed a graduate certificate in integrative therapies and healing practices through the Earl E. Bakken Center for Spirituality & Healing. He completed his three-year residency training in internal medicine at the University of California in Los Angeles on the primary care track and a two-year fellowship in integrative East-West primary care at the UCLA Health Center for East-West Medicine.

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