Ear pain? Call the chiropractor!

If you have a young child you have probably been woken up in the night to find your wee one tugging on his ear. He hurts and you call your pediatrician who gets you in the next morning and starts your child on a course of antibiotics. Within a week your child feels great and you think nothing of it until it happens again.
Many parents are unaware of the variety of options available for the treatment of ear infections, the standard 10 day course of amoxicillin is looking less and less appealing.  There is the hassle of medication, the recurrence of the ear infection, and the pain until the antibiotics work. More parents are choosing to call their chiropractor first!

Why Chiropractic for Ear Infections?
Quite simply…It works and it’s safe. Even the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends a watch-and-wait approach, because the evidence-based research about antibiotics is showing that not only are they ineffective at treating ear infections, but they will actually lead to repeated ear infections in your child. In fact a new study published by the American Medical Association showed that antibiotics have little impact on child ear infections. Here is more information

How Does It Work?
The chiropractic adjustment works by relaxing the neck muscles which allows the Eustachian tubes to drain properly. It rarely takes more than 1 visit.  Studies have shown that regular chiropractic care can keep away recurring ear infections. Many children who have been told they needed tubes in their ears are able to avoid surgery, by visiting the chiropractor.

Is It Safe?
It is very safe. In fact, antibiotics have more serious side effects than the chiropractic adjustment including rashes, thrush, stomach aches, etc.As Tumaini Coker, MD says in In this article about antibiotics and ear infections. "Prescribing antibiotics early may help cure ear infections a little bit faster, but also raises the risk that children will suffer antibiotic-related side effects such as a rash or diarrhea," Coker said. "Parents and their children may value these different outcomes differently."

Aren’t Antibiotics Just Easier?
Many would say they are (if you can get your child to take them and you remember every single day). However, most ear infections are viral, not bacterial which means that antibiotics won’t help and can cause a lot of harm.

If antibiotics are used too often for things they can't treat — like colds, flu or other viral infections — they become less effective against the bacteria they're intended to treat. Not taking antibiotics exactly as prescribed also leads to problems. For example, if you take an antibiotic for only a few days — instead of the full course — the antibiotic may wipe out some but not all of the bacteria. The surviving bacteria become more resistant and can be spread to other people. When bacteria become resistant to first line treatments, the risk of complications and death is increased. In the United States alone, thousands of people die each year of antibiotic-resistant infections.

So next time, you are woken up in the middle of the night, speed dial your chiropractor instead of your pediatrician.
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