It is reported that 85% of kids will get at least one ear infection. Nearly every mom has experienced their sons or daughters screaming and crying, ear tugging, complaining, and over all discomfort. Because this is such a prevalent condition, why aren’t there answers? Why do they keep coming back? Is surgery really necessary? My clinical experience, after years of antibiotics and tubes, kids often develop multiple bouts of sore throats and swollen tonsils. As the kids continue to get older, I noticed they start to develop asthma, allergies, bronchitis, and pneumonia. Since I have seen this over and over again, I started to ask myself “Is there a connection between them.?" 

  What is an Ear Infection?

An ear infection develops when fluid accumulates in the middle ear, which then becomes inflamed and infected. Stagnation of the fluid occurs when there is inadequate drainage of the ear canal. There are actually tiny muscles in your ear canal that push the fluid through. These muscles listen to the main computer system in the body, the nerve system, to know when to contract and squeeze fluid out. So why doesn’t the ear properly drain? It is possible that the communication between your ear muscles and nervous system is being disrupted.    The joints in the very top of your neck are vital in promoting proper ear drainage because they help facilitate messages between the ear and the brain. If they are not moving properly, the brain will not send the proper message down to the ear muscles resulting in poor ear drainage.

Current Treatments

The common medical treatment for the ear infection (otitis media, OM), according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, should be to observe the patient over a few days without prescribing antibiotics. If the infection gets worse or persists, the next step, antibiotics, is then recommended. A recent survey, however, found that very few medical doctors actually stick to this guideline, with 76% of every OM patient receiving a prescription for antibiotics. While drugs can help people escape life threatening conditions, OM is hardly that.

If we refer back to the origin of the infection, bacteria are only allowed to grow and cause harm because of a accumulation of warm fluid. While antibiotics will kill the bacteria (if it is a bacterial, and not viral infection), it won’t fix the reason why the bacteria show up in the first place. I assume you are thinking now, “I want to fix the drainage problem, because that will take care of the ear infection once and for all.” Some of you might now be thinking about the “tubes” surgery your EENT might want to perform. While this will promote drainage, it still only temporarily covers up the problem.  

If our ear drums needed holes to drain, do you think we would have been created with them? When those expensive tubes are surgically inserted in the membrane, all that infected, bacteria ridden, stagnant fluid gets directed down the throat which runs into our tonsils, adenoids, and potentially our lungs. While the ear infection may go away (for about 6 months), multiple bouts of sore throat and swollen tonsils usually ensues. After multiple infections to the tonsils, common practice is to remove them. In my opinion, because the body now has a more limited immune response to things entering the body from the throat, people become more susceptible to chronic bronchitis, asthma, and allergies. Unfortunately, this isn’t only my experience in my practice, but more and more people are noticing this trend. Instead of treating the symptoms and possible opening the doors to other illness and diseases, let’s try looking at the source of the dis-ease in the body. 

The Solution

What we want to do is simply restore nerve communication to the muscles of the ear canal and movement in the upper neck. This will allow the ear to naturally drain, thus avoiding a inflammatory response from the immune system towards the bacteria. Yup, no drugs, no surgery. No side effects. No slippery slope. You might be surprised to find out that a pediatric chiropractor may be your answer. You may have never heard of us, but every day in our office we help kids of all ages overcome, once and for all, those nasty ear infections because we adjust the cause of the dysfunction.

Through affordable, safe, gentle, and effective chiropractic care, your child’s drainage system will be reset and restored to proper function. As a bonus, it is possible that tubes can be avoided, which means the tonsils might not get infected as much. When the tonsils are kept intact, they can help prevent harmful agents from reaching the lungs thus potentially reducing the onset of pediatric asthma and allergies. So if you are looking for a natural option to get rid of ear infections for good, pediatric chiropractic may be your answer.