Ear Infections and Chirpractic Care

Hey guys, it’s Dr. Jamie Adams from Covington Family Chiropractic. And I want to remind you that we see a lot of children here, and we’re one of the largest pediatric offices in the entire Southeast. And we’re so blessed to be able to take care of so many children. One of the main things that we see so many kids in our office is ear infections. Ear infections plague so many children. And you know, ear infections are prevalent in children because of the eustachian tube, which is that little tiny tube in the inner ear that drains to the back of the throat and horizontally placed in children. And so a lot of times what happens is we get fluid in the ears. The fluid becomes stagnant, and that leads to an infection. So the standard protocol is to offer an antibiotic to our child in hopes that the infection will go away by itself.

Some cases will work, but a lot of times, because of the tube placement and the normal anatomy around the eustachian tube, the infection returns. So we take our child back to our doctor. We get another round of antibiotics, which is even more robust, and that cycle continues until finally, they recommend that your child might need to have tubes put in their ears. Sometimes that can be an effective measure to help prevent future infections. But what we find in about 50% of cases it fails, and we have to go back, put the tubes back in again, and you can see it’s a vicious, vicious cycle. So how does chiropractic play into all of that? Well, there is a tiny bone at the top of our neck. It’s called the Atlas bone, the very first cervical vertebrae. And what happens in our life is this vertebra gets misaligned, gets shifted, and what we call a subluxation, and these subluxations can significantly affect our health.

First, they affect the way that our immune system functions, but also too, they can now alter the anatomy of that eustachian tube. So when this bone moves, it can put increasing pressure on that tube, which prevents that fluid from draining. We find that when we remove this misalignment or the subluxation of the top bone, it allows that fluid to drain in the child’s ears. And often, it only takes a few adjustments, and that child is back to normal again. So you may be wondering, well, how in the world can I get a subluxation in the spine that can lead to an ear infection, among other things. Well, that’s very easy. There are lots of things that lead to those most common is trauma. The very first day of our child’s life, they get exposed to trauma and through the birthing process. Also, as the child begins to grow, they roll over, crawl, walk, play, have falls, and have accidents.

All of those things can lead to a small shift in the bones of the spine, which can lead to subluxations, which can significantly affect our health. We love to offer a complimentary consultation to see if those concerns you have about ear infections or decreased immune system function or any functional problem could be a result of subluxation.

Contact our office to schedule your appointment and I look forward to seeing you soon.