Archive for the ‘ear infections’ Category
How Your Chiropractor Can Relieve Your Child's Earaches and Ear Infections
Earache is the most widespread purpose for office visits to pediatricians. By the age of three years, more than 70 percent of children will have had at least one episode of earache, and about a third will have had three or more occurrences. What you might not expect, however, is that earache is also the most widespread reason for children under the age of five years to be brought to the chiropractor’s office.
How Chiropractic Care Relates to Earache and Ear Infections
A pediatrician who thinks that a child with an earache has a middle ear infection will usually prescribe antibiotics as a customary course of treatment. Advanced study, however, has ascertained that such practices are often misguided. The reason for the child’s middle ear infection may not be due to bacteria, and inasmuch as antibiotics are only effective against bacterial pathogens, quite often there will be no positive reaction. 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 intentions of a chiropractor is to establish if the reason for the body’s inability to combat the earache or ear infection is produced by inflamation of the small nerves in the spine (called free nerve endings).
When these nerve endings are irritated, an undue tension is created in the small muscles of the neck. Pressure created on the lymphatic drainage ducts as a result of muscle tension can stop adequate drainage from inside the ear. This condition stops the body from naturally correcting the problem. Furthermore, balance can also be affected.
Inadequate drainage of lymphatic ducts can be discovered by a chiropractor if there is more tension in the neck and paraspinal muscles on the side with the earache. In addition, the chiropractor will palpate to see which spinal vertebrae are either marginally out of alignment or not moving within their normal range. This affliction may have been due to any one of the variety of bangs, jolts and falls that most children encounter in the early years of their life. Restoration of normal lymph drainage is usually accomplished with a short regimen of treatments that include spinal adjustments and manipulation of the neck muscles. If your child is struggling with an earache or an ear infection, call your chiropractor as soon as possible.
Advanced Research and Guidelines
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), ear infection, the most frequent childhood sickness second only to the common cold, accounts for nearly 30 million doctor visits each year. Furthermore, at least 6 million courses of antibiotics are extraneously prescribed for the affliction.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 emphasizes that chiropractic management 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.”