How Does Chiropractic Care Help with Ear Infections?

If you are reading this, you are probably going through hard times with your child having chronic ear infections that are not getting better with conventional medicine. As a dad myself, I get it. I have spent many sleepless nights with a screaming 4-month old, tugging on her ears and sobbing in pain.  The feeling of absolute helplessness in these moments is a horrible feeling as a parent. These are the times that really test us as parents. However, I want to tell you that there is a better way. You don't just have to wait out the pain, you don't have to hope the antibiotics will finally work this time. You can take back control of your family’s health. When my daughter was going through her ear infections, what helped the most was consistent chiropractic care to help her body heal itself the way it was designed to. Chiropractic helped my child heal from ear infections, and I know we can help your family too.

You may have heard someone tell you that chiropractic care can help your child when they are struggling with an ear infection or cold, but you may be asking yourself, “What does chiropractic have to do with ear infections?” It’s not just for people with back or neck pain. While chiropractic care certainly helps with those too, there is so much more under the surface that can help your child be able to adapt to the normal day-to-day stresses they see every day as a growing child. If your child is struggling with chronic ear infections and colds, or even if your child is not dealing with these problems yet, I encourage you to keep reading and discover the true impact that regular chiropractic care can have on your child and your whole family. 

Why are the Antibiotics Not Helping My Child?  

The conventional treatment for ear infections is antibiotics, but this treatment does not always work. This is because ear “infections” are often not infections at all. A lot of the time, an “ear infection” is just fluid that gets backed up behind the ear drum, causing pain and inflammation, which is what an infection would look like too. The problem with the conventional approach to treating ear infections is that it is only focused on treating the symptoms. It becomes a frustrating cycle: drive to the walk-in and try antibiotics, drive back to the walk-in and try another round of antibiotics, drive back to the walk-in once again and this time you’re referred for tubes... and after all that, your little one is still suffering. With chiropractic care, we understand that we need to dive deeper. Instead of trying to just treat the symptoms, we need to understand the underlying cause of why those symptoms are happening. 

What is the underlying cause of my child’s ear infection?

To understand why your child keeps getting sick, we have to look at their master control system: their nervous system.

Your child’s brain is constantly talking to their body, and then their body is talking back to their brain through their nervous system. This communication highway travels through their spine. When the joints of the spine aren't moving properly, it creates interference in that communication. We call this a subluxation.

Think of a subluxation like a dimmer switch on a light. The power is there, but the connection is fuzzy. When this interference happens, the brain can't effectively tell the body how to function, and the body can’t effectively tell the brain what it needs. This can lead to your child not being able to heal as easily from their sickness.

When subluxations are present in the joints of your child's spine, their nervous system perceives that stress and shifts into a state of "Fight or Flight." This is a survival mode where the body is geared up for protection, not healing.

For your child to recover, they need to be in the opposite state: "Rest, Digest, and Heal" (the parasympathetic state). The nerves that exit the upper neck are the primary drivers of this rest-and-heal system. If those specific nerves are stressed or irritated by subluxations, your child is not able to adapt and heal from sickness as easily.

Regular chiropractic adjustments gently clear this nervous system interference. We don’t "treat" the ear infection; we regulate their nervous system so your child’s body can adapt and transition to a more parasympathetic, rest, and heal state. Basically, we help your child to be better able to adapt and heal naturally, without the need for drugs.

What Causes Ear Infections?

Here is a perspective shift that changes everything: Ear infections are not an infection problem—they are a drainage problem.

The Eustachian tube is supposed to act as a natural drain, allowing fluid to flow from behind the ear down to the back of the throat. However, when the muscles in the neck are tight (due to that "fight or flight" tension) and the lymph nodes get clogged, that tube becomes blocked. The fluid gets trapped, creating pressure, pain, and inflammation.

This stagnant fluid mimics an infection even when it is simply a "plumbing" issue. When your child takes antibiotics to try to treat the symptoms, this may help turn off the flow of fluid for a bit, but if that clog is still there, the pressure will build right back up again.

By gently adjusting the spine and regulating their nervous system, your child’s muscles will be able to relax and their body will be better able to adapt. This opens the pathways for proper drainage, decreasing the pressure behind the ear and naturally lessening the pain by helping the body to heal itself.

How Can I Help Ear Infections At Home?

While adjustments will help clear the nerve flow, specific lymphatic massage can also help physically move the congestion. As explained in our Lymphatic Drainage Resource Guide, we follow a specific order to "open the doors" of the lymphatic system first—clearing the exit points so the fluid has somewhere to go. If we don't clear the drain first, the fluid higher up has nowhere to flow. Our massage therapist will perform this gentle work and teach you how to continue supporting that drainage at home.

There are many more things that you can do at home to help your child heal from their sickness faster. We want to help you take back control of your family’s health and give you as many resources as possible so you no longer feel powerless. To find out what else you can do for your child, check out the Maximized Tool-kit for Healing Your Kid’s Colds and Earaches Naturally.

Thriving, Not Just Surviving

Chiropractic care is about so much more than pain management or fixing an ear infection. It is about helping your child adapt and heal.

Life is full of stressors—falls, growth spurts, school germs, and emotional ups and downs. When your child has a clear nervous system, they are able to adapt to these stresses easier. They get sick less often, they bounce back faster, and they grow up active, healthy, and happy.

Please do not spend another sleepless night with your child suffering from yet another ear infection. Make an appointment at Maximized Chiropractic today where we work hard to better understand the underlying causes of why your child is getting sick. We truly care about you and your family and we want to help you not just survive the hard seasons, but to thrive!