How Do They Happen?
During a cold or another respiratory infection, these
tiny tubes can become inflamed
and swollen, trapping fluid in the middle ear.
When viruses or bacteria multiply in the fluid, the
result is a painful infection.
Misalignment of vertebrae and/or muscle spasm can
press on structures that drain the
middle ear.
Source: Dr. Stu Warner, Parker Seminars, Miami, 2003
Reoccurring ear infections account for over 35% of
all pediatrician visits in the
United States. Sometimes these infections are due
to bacteria and sometimes these are
due to a virus. The most common medical care for this
situation has been antibiotics,
even though antibiotics have no effect on viruses.
Source: Ladies Home Journal, October 1998 "Chiropractic
Adjustments for Chronic
Ear Infections."
Who Is At High Risk?
Pacifiers Are Linked To Increase In Ear Infections...
Chiropractic Approach to Ear Infections
Ear problems can be excruciatingly painful, especially
in children. With 10 million
new cases every year, ear infections (otitis media)
are the most common illness
affecting babies and young children and the number
one reason for visits to the pediatrician—accounting
for more than 35 percent of all pediatric visits.
Almost half of all children will have at least one
middle ear infection before they're
a year old, and two-thirds of them will have had at
least one such infection by age
3. The symptoms can include ear pain, fever, and irritability.
Otitis media can be
either bacterial or viral in origin, and frequently
results from another illness such
as a cold. For many children, it can become a chronic
problem, requiring
treatment year after year, and putting the child at
risk of permanent hearing
damage and associated speech and developmental problems.
Standard treatment for most cases of otitis media
is with antibiotics, which can be
effectiveif the culprit is bacterial (antibiotics,
of course, do nothing to fight
off viruses). But, according to many research studies,
antibiotics are often not
much more effective than the body's own immune system.
And repeated doses of
antibiotics can lead to drug-resistant bacteria that
scoff at the drugs, while leaving
the child screaming in pain.
Frequent ear infections are also the second most
common reason for surgery in
children under 2 (with circumcision being the first).
In severe cases—for
example, when fluids from an ear infection haven't
cleared from the ear after
several months, and hearing is affected—specialists
sometimes prescribe
myringotomy and tympanostomy, more commonly known
as "ear tubes."
During the surgical procedure, a small opening is
made in the eardrum to place
a tube inside. The tube relieves pressure in the ear
and prevents repeated fluid
buildup with the continuous venting of fresh air.
In most cases, the
membrane pushes the tube out after a couple of months
and the hole in the eardrum
closes. Although the treatment is effective, it has
to be repeated in some 20 to 30
percent of cases. And this kind of surgery requires
general anesthesia, never a minor
thing in a small child. If the infection persists
even after tube placement and removal,
children sometimes undergo adenoidectomy (surgical
removal of the adenoids)—
an option that is effective mostly through the first
year after surgery.
Before yet another round of "maybe-they'll-work-and-maybe-they-won't"
antibiotics or the drastic step of surgery, more parents
are considering
chiropractic to help children with chronic ear infections.
Dr. Joan Fallon,
a chiropractor who practices in Yonkers, New York,
has published research
showing that, after receiving a series of chiropractic
adjustments, nearly 80
percent of the children treated were free of ear infections
for at
least the six-month period following their initial
visits (a period that also included
maintenance treatments every four to six weeks).
"Chiropractic mobilizes drainage of the ear
in children, and if they can continue to
drain without a buildup of fluid and subsequent infection,
they build up their own
antibodies and recover more quickly," explains
Dr. Fallon. She'd like to see her
pilot study used as a basis for larger-scale trials
of chiropractic as a therapeutic
modality for otitis media.
Dr. Fallon uses primarily upper-cervical manipulation
on children with otitis media,
focusing particularly on the occiput, or back of the
skull, and atlas, or the first vertebra
in the neck. "Adjusting the occiput, in particular,
will get the middle ear to drain.
Depending on how chronic it's been and on where they
are in their cycle of antibiotics, children generally
need to get through one bout of fluid and fight it
off themselves." That means, for the average
child, between six and eight treatments. If a child's
case is acute,
Dr. Fallon will check the ear every day, using a tympanogram
to measure the ear and
track the movement of the eardrum to make sure that
it's draining. "I'll do adjustments
every day or every other day for a couple of days
if they're acute, and then decrease frequency over
time."
Dr. Fallon, whose research garnered her the acclaim
of childrearing magazines like
Parenting and Baby Talk, often sees great success
when she treats a child for otitis
media. "Once they fight it themselves, my kids
tend to do very well and stay away from
ear infections completely. Unless there are environmental
factors like smoking in the
house, an abnormally shaped Eustachian tube, or something
like that, they do very well,"
she says.
"I have two large pediatric groups that refer
to me on a regular basis. In the winter, when otitis
is most prevalent, I see five or six new children
each week from each group," says
Dr. Fallon. "It's safe and effective and something
that parents should try, certainly before inserting
tubes in their children's ears."
Reference:
2004, American Chiropractic Association
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