CHIROPRACTIC APPROACH TO EAR INFECTIONS

By Darren Snodgrass, DC

Otitis media aka (ear infections) can be either bacterial or viral in origin, and frequently result 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 effective if 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 less than two years of age (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 aka (tubes in the ears), which prevents repeated fluid buildup with the continuous venting of fresh air. 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 for a small child.

I primarily use upper-cervical manipulation of children with otitis media, focusing particularly on the occiput, or base of the skull to the first thru fourth vertebra in the neck. The nerves exiting the first thru fourth vertebral levels forms a group of nerves called the cervical plexus. The cervical plexus contains motor fibers that can be traced from the Eustachian tubes to the cervical sympathetic ganglion. Frequency and length of care will vary from patient to patient. A weak immune system will have a longer response time.

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.