Can Chiropractic Help Ear Infections?

Can Chiropractic Help Otitis Media (Ear Infections)?

The short answer is yes.  The reason why may surprise you.

It’s not because chiropractic adjustments are a treatment for ear infection. 

It’s important to understand that ear infections in a toddler/baby are NOT because the Eustachian tube is short and flat, as is popularly described.  If a short, flat tube were the cause, adjusting a baby’s spine would have zero impact.  But, the reverse is true.  There are many years of documentation of chiropractic and otitis media resolution. 

It will help to understand exactly what is going on.  First, the anatomy:  The area in which the symptoms and fluid builds up is called the middle ear.  The middle ear space is between the tympanic membrane (ear drum) and the inner membrane to the fluid filled cochlea that actually contains the nerves for hearing and the opening to the back of the throat.  Normally, this space is just space with 3 moving bones, the ossicles, that connect the outer ear drum to the inner smaller window that moves the fluid in the inner ear or cochlea. That fluid filled space with nerve cells for hearing is not involved in middle ear infections.  But, moving that membrane and the normal fluid behind it with all the nerve cells, is how you hear and it doesn’t move very well if the middle ear is filled with fluid too.

The way this is supposed to work acoustically is for example, if you’ve ever seen a rock band you will see a hole in the front of the bass/kick drum.  If you don’t have a hole in the front of the drum and the space in the middle is enclosed and sealed, when the foot pedal hits one side, it won’t move very well because the air is trapped by the other side. You get a better "kick" with a hole in the drum head. Imagine if you filled it with water. 

With fluid in the middle ear, the tympanic membrane doesn’t move as well when sound waves hit it and the ossicle bones don’t move much, so hearing is diminished.

Worse, the fluid in the middle ear typically causes the tympanic membrane to become retracted and stretches very tightly over the first ossicle bone that is connected to it and that’s what hurts and causes your child to cry in pain.  When this is happening, job one is alleviate the pressure and control the pain.  But how do you remove the middle ear fluid?

The ear connects to the back of the throat through the Eustachian tube to allow air to move when the tympanic membrane vibrates.  That’s where the fluid must exit.  If that hole is constricted for too long, the tympanic membrane will rupture spontaneously.  You may see drainage from the ear. That means it's ruptured. This immediately alleviates the pain.  The tympanic membrane may heal from that.  Repeated episodes make that harder. 

There are two reasons for the hole being constricted.  The muscle around it and the tonsils next to it.  Air and fluid get trapped if the muscle (called the tensor palatini) acts like a sphincter and if it’s too tense and spasming, it won’t let air out and the space fills with fluid and sometimes bacteria because the space is contiguous with the back of the throat where lots of bacteria live.  That muscle can be activated and relaxed.  You already know this happens from yawning as you do this when you are in a plane as it lands and the pressure in your ear increases.  You do this spontaneously to relieve the pressure. 

Another cause is the opening at the back of the throat gets covered by enlarged tonsil tissue.  Tonsils get enlarged due to infection and repeated infection.  The tonsils are part of the immune system.  They trap and “show” bacteria to the immune system.  They enlarge like a muscle would when exercised if there are repeated infections of the respiratory system.  It’s a swollen lymph node.  Lymph nodes enlarge in response to white blood cells fighting infections.

The first problem of the opening on the back of the throat being closed by the tensor palatini, is addressed by making sure the nerve that controls it isn’t firing too much. It would fire to much due to subluxation of the spinal vertebra.   In kids, that subluxation happens at birth and sometimes before birth if they are sideways and constrained.  After birth subluxation happens by head being to the side in car seats etc….  When the spine is out of align, it irritates the nerve and it fires, that triggers the muscle spasm that prevents the air from escaping the middle ear. Correcting the spine, corrects the nerve irritation and muscle tension of the tensor palatini muscle.

The second problem where the tonsils are so enlarged it blocks the tube, improves by correcting the spine as well because the lymph drainage pathways from the tonsils are allowed to clear by reducing the muscle tension in the neck muscles by chiropractic adjustment.

Chiropractic corrects the muscle tension around the tube opening and improves the lymph drainage, so the tonsils don't get so backed up and enlarged.

Because the problem isn’t bacteria, it’s drainage, the solution to ear infections isn’t antibiotics.  Antibiotics make it more likely that you have another ear infection to deal with a couple months down the road.   Antibiotics destroy the immune system and pushes the child toward auto immune hypersensitivity.  In other words, asthma and allergies.   If you know kids with asthma and allergies, you can be assured they were more likely than not, subjected to multiple rounds of antibiotics early on. 

Antibiotic administration increases recurrence rate of another infection 4-6 times greater than those untreated.  One reason antibiotics are given is the possibility that a case of otitis media may progress to infection of the surrounding bone, called mastoiditis.  The risk is 1 in 25,000 cases.  You be the judge of whether that’s rare or a significant risk.

Each antibiotic raises the risk further, the antibiotic route makes it more likely the child will have tube surgery.  Tubes cause about a 3 dB hearing loss which is permanent because of the hole in the tympanic membrane.  Tube proponents argue that most hearing is restored immediately.  And, if the infection becomes to great, you get a hole in the membrane too.  That’s accurate.  One version of hearing loss is done on purpose by the surgery and is permanent.  A spontaneous rupture has the same hearing loss as a possibility but they frequently heal up unless there’s repeated infections.

Antibiotic administration also adds these risks of future health problems: Asthma (37% increase risk from antibiotics), food allergies (33%), diabetes (26%) and for boys, anxiety/depression (45% increase risk).

The healthy solution is improving the immune system and the connection between the middle ear and back of the throat.  It’s not a bad idea to modify the diet to make sure the mucous stays viscous and not too thick to move easily.  Which means, avoiding dairy for a bit.

The healthy and wholistic path is making sure the nerves work right again.  Manage the bacteria in back of throat immediately with zinc/vit C spray.  Zinc is bacteriostatic.  It doesn’t kill bacteria but doesn’t let them multiply.  And longer term with probiotics.  The main good bacteria strain is called B. bifidus for kids up to 4 or 5 years old, then the microbiome shifts to more adult strains such as L. acidophilus.   It’s no harm to use the latter though.   

The path to health begins with checking the spine and correcting any interference, restore the microbiome and possibly limit dairy for some.   That’s it.  Simple. 

Please share this with parents who are struggling. Chiropractic adjustments for toddlers are so gentle.  It’s unlike what happens for adults or even teenagers.  Some parents who have seen adults adjusted but have never seen a child adjusted have a hard time imagining doing that for their child.  That’s not what we do.  It’s a light pressure with the finger or instrument.  Kids don’t mind this at all.  They do so much better and it’s all natural and healthy.  It is not microbiome destroying. Nor does it damage the immune system. And it doesn't not create risk for lifelong autoimmune disease.  I would love for everyone to experience healthy, chiropractic lifestyle.

Let’s say you’ve already been down the road of ear infection, antibiotic, ear infection, antibiotic… rinse, lather, repeat all the way through to tubes in the ears. Don't kick yourself. You don't know what you don't know. But now you DO know the cause of the problem is not addressed by antibiotics or tubes and the immune system has been destroyed from antibiotics. What now? It's still not too late. That child can be helped and put back on the path to health too.  He will need corrective supplementation for his microbiome while addressing the subluxations in his spine.  We've seen this happen for kids many times. They do great once on the path. Everybody is so much happier.

We hope this helps you raise your children healthy.  We invite you to choose a path of wellness for your family.  We love caring for families and helping them be the best they can be.

Please share this life changing information with parents.

Vibrant Life Center

Oakdale, MN

651-777-3611

Dr. Daniel Barrett

Dr. Danielle Fleming.