childrens chiropractic

Earache is the most prevalent basis for office visits to pediatricians. By the age of three years, more than 70 percent of children will have had at least one incident of earache, and about a third will have had three or more episodes. However, what might be surprising 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 Can Help Earache and Ear Infections

A pediatrician who determines that a child with an earache has a middle ear infection will generally prescribe antibiotics as a typical course of treatment. Current research, however, has ascertained that this type of treatment is often ill-advised. Antibiotics are only effective against bacterial pathogens, and because the child's middle ear infection may be caused by a virus, antibiotics are ineffectual. This may account for a child's chronic ear infections.

One of the tasks of a Honolulu chiropractor is to establish if the body's incapability of combatting the earache or ear infection is produced by inflamation 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 inflammed. This muscle tension can put pressure on the lymphatic drainage ducts resulting in inadequate drainage from inside the ear, thereby keeping the body from its ability to naturally fix the problem. Furthermore, balance can also be affected.

Identification by a chiropractor of such a situation is made by the discovery of increased tension in the neck and paraspinal muscles. Normally more tension is felt on the side of earache. The chiropractor also looks for spinal vertebrae that are either moderately out of alignment or are not moving within their normal range. This condition may have been the consequence of any one of the number 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 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, see your Honolulu chiropractor as soon as possible.

Advanced Research and Guidelines

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), ear infection, the most frequent childhood disease after the common cold, accounts for nearly 30 million doctor visits every year. In addition, at least 6 million courses of antibiotics are causelessly prescribed for the condition.  Just recently, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released new guidelines for treating pediatric ear inflammation, and definitively 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 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."

Tags: earaches, ear infections, chiropractic, Health, children's earaches, earache, chiropractor