Can a Fort Worth Chiropractor Really Help With Earaches and Ear Infections?
April 2nd, 2009 | by admin |The most prevailing basis for visits to a pediatrician is earache. By the age of three years, more than 70 percent of children will have had at least one experience of earache, and about a third will have had more than three incidents. However, what might be unexpected is that earache is also the most general occurrence 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
When a child with an earache is identified as having a middle ear infection by the pediatrician, the general treatment encompasses a course of antibiotics. New research, however, has determined that such practices are often imprudent. The reason for the child’s middle ear infection may not be due to bacteria, and since antibiotics are only effective against bacterial pathogens, frequently there will be no positive reaction. This is because numerous cases of middle ear infection can be produced by a virus, and viruses do not respond to antibiotics. This may explain why children develop chronic ear infections.
One of a number of evaluations that your Fort Worth chiropractor can make is whether the earache or ear infection is caused by irritation of the small nerves in the spine, called free nerve endings.
When these nerve endings are inflamed, an abnormal tension is created in the small muscles of the neck. Pressure generated on the lymphatic drainage ducts as a consequence of muscle tension can prevent adequate drainage from inside the ear. This condition keeps the body from naturally fixing the problem. In addition, balance can also be affected.
Inadequate drainage of lymphatic ducts can be diagnosed 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 check to see which spinal vertebrae are either moderately out of alignment or not moving within their normal range. This affliction may have been the consequence of any one of the variety of bangs, jolts and falls that almost all children undergo in the early years of their life. Restoration of normal lymph drainage is usually accomplished with a short course of treatments that include spinal adjustments and manipulation of the neck muscles. If your child is experiencing the pain of an earache or an ear infection, see your Fort Worth Chiropractor as soon as possible.
Advanced Research and Guidelines
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), ear infection, the most frequent childhood sickness after the common cold, accounts for nearly 30 million doctor visits each year. In addition, at least 6 million courses of antibiotics are causelessly prescribed for the affliction.Not too long ago, 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) applauds the AAP on the guidelines and underlines that chiropractic treatment 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.”