Chiropractic Management Can Help Your Child’s Earaches and Ear Infections
The most prevailing purpose for visits to a pediatrician is earache. More than 70 percent of children will have had not less than one earache by the age of three, and nearly one-third will have had three or more earache occurrences. But, what might be unexpected is that earache is also the most widespread occurrence for children under the age of five years to be escorted by parents to the chiropractor’s office.
How Chiropractic Care Relates to Earache and Ear Infections
A pediatrician who determines that a child with an earache has a middle ear infection will generally prescribe antibiotics as a customary course of treatment. Advanced analysis, however, has determined that this type of treatment is often imprudent. The basis for the child’s middle ear infection may not be due to bacteria, and because antibiotics are only effective against bacterial pathogens, quite often there will be no positive result. This is because numerous cases of middle ear infection can be caused by a virus, and viruses do not respond to antibiotics. This may account for why children develop chronic ear infections.
One of the purposes of a Honolulu chiropractor is to establish if the reason for the body’s inability to combat the earache or ear infection is produced by irritation of the small nerves in the spine (called free nerve endings).
When these nerve endings are inflamed, an aberrant tension is generated in the small muscles of the neck. This muscle tension can place pressure on the lymphatic drainage ducts resulting in inadequate drainage from inside the ear, thus keeping the body from its ability to naturally rectify the problem. Additionally, balance can also be affected.
Inadequate drainage of lymphatic ducts can be identifed by a chiropractor if there is more tension in the neck and paraspinal muscles on the side with the earache. The chiropractor also looks for spinal vertebrae that are either slightly out of alignment or are not moving within their normal range. This problem may have been due to any one of the many bangs, jolts and falls that the majority of children experience in the early years of their life. Many times, a short series of spinal adjustments and manipulation of the neck muscles will aid in restoring normal lymph drainage. If your child is struggling with an earache or an ear infection, call your Honolulu chiropractor as soon as possible.
Advanced Research and Guidelines
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), ear infection, the most prevalent childhood disease second only to the common cold, accounts for nearly 30 million doctor visits every year. Furthermore, at least 6 million courses of antibiotics are extraneously prescribed for the problem. Recently, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released new guidelines for treating pediatric ear inflammation, and specifically recommended a period of “watchful waiting” since, in many cases, infections clear up on their own, without medication.
The American Chiropractic Association (ACA) endorses the AAP on the guidelines and reiterates that chiropractic care is a “good first option” for treating ear infection conservatively. “Doctors of chiropractic have been treating children for decades with great success – helping them to avoid painful ear infections, antibiotic overuse and resistance, and ear tube surgery,” said ACA President Donald Krippendorf, DC. “Particularly when dealing with young children, drugs and surgery should be an absolute last resort.”
