Chiropractic Treatment Can Relieve Your Child’s Earaches and Ear Infections
Earache is the most widespread reason for office visits to pediatricians. More than 70 percent of children will have had not less than one earache by the age of three, and approximately one-third will have had three or more earache episodes. However, what might be unforeseen is that earache is also the most general reason for children under the age of five years to be taken to the chiropractor’s office.
How Chiropractic Care Relates to Earache and Ear Infections
A pediatrician who suspects that a child with an earache has a middle ear infection will normally prescribe antibiotics as a customary course of treatment. Advanced analysis, however, has ascertained that this is often ill-advised. Antibiotics are only effective against bacterial pathogens, and because the child’s middle ear infection may be produced by a virus, antibiotics are ineffectual. This may be the reason for a child’s chronic ear infections.
One of the intentions of a Honolulu chiropractor is to determine if the reason for the body’s ineffectiveness in combatting the earache or ear infection is caused by irritation of the small nerves in the spine (called free nerve endings).
An aberrant tension in the small muscles of the neck is produced when these nerve endings are irritated. Pressure created on the lymphatic drainage ducts as a result of muscle tension can prevent adequate drainage from inside the ear. This problem prevents the body from naturally correcting the problem. Additionally, balance can also be affected.
Assessment by a chiropractor of such a problem is made by the finding of increased tension in the neck and paraspinal muscles. Usually more tension is felt on the side of earache. The chiropractor also checks for spinal vertebrae that are either slightly out of alignment or are not moving within their normal range. This affliction may have been due to any one of the many bangs, jolts and falls that the majority of children encounter in the early years of their life. Restoration of normal lymph drainage is normally accomplished with a short course 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 Honolulu chiropractor as soon as possible.
Advanced Research and Guidelines
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), ear infection, the most widespread childhood illness after the common cold, accounts for nearly 30 million doctor visits every year. What’s more, at least 6 million courses of antibiotics are unnecessarily prescribed for the condition.Just recently, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released new guidelines for treating pediatric ear inflammation, and expressly recommended a period of “watchful waiting” since, in many cases, infections clear up on their own, without medication.
The American Chiropractic Association (ACA) commends the AAP on the guidelines and underlines 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.”
Tags: children's earaches, chiropractic, chiropractor, ear infections, earache, earaches
