Children Ear Infections
* Almost half of all children will have at least one middle ear infection before they`re 1-year old, and two-thirds of them will have had at least one such infection by age 3. *
* Of these, almost half will have had repeated bouts.
* Ear infections are the most frequent primary diagnosis made at visits to U.S. physician offices by children under 15 years of age. **
* The National Center for Health Statistics reports that otitis media is the most common diagnosis for a physician’s office visit by children under 15.
* Specifically, children under two have the highest rate of visits to a physician’s office for otitis media.
* From 1975-1990, office visits for otitis media increased by 150 percent. Children under 15 accounted for 24.5 million more visits to the physician’s office, or an increase of 81 percent office visits for the diagnosis and treatment of otitis media.
Chiropractic Approach to Ear Infections
Ear problems can be excruciatingly painful, especially in children. With 10 million new cases every year, ear infections (otitis media) are the most common illness affecting babies and young children and the number one reason for visits to the pediatrician-accounting for more than 35 percent of all pediatric visits.
Almost half of all children will have at least one middle ear infection before they’re a year old, and two-thirds of them will have had at least one such infection by age 3. The symptoms can include ear pain, fever, and irritability. Otitis media can be either bacterial or viral in origin, and frequently results 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 under 2 (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, more commonly known as “ear tubes.” During the surgical procedure, a small opening is made in the eardrum to place
a tube inside. The tube relieves pressure in the ear and prevents repeated fluid buildup with the continuous venting of fresh air. In most cases, the membrane pushes the tube out after a couple of months and the hole in the eardrum closes. 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 in a small child. If the infection persists even after tube placement and removal, children sometimes undergo adenoidectomy (surgical removal of the adenoids)- an option that is effective mostly through the first year after surgery.
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. Dr. Joan Fallon, a chiropractor who practices in Yonkers, New York, has published research showing that, after receiving a series of chiropractic adjustments, nearly 80 percent of the children treated were free of ear infections for at least the six-month period following their initial visits (a period that also included maintenance treatments every four to six weeks).
“Chiropractic mobilizes drainage of the ear in children, and if they can continue to drain without a buildup of fluid and subsequent infection, they build up their own antibodies and recover more quickly,” explains Dr. Fallon. She’d like to see her pilot study used as a basis for larger-scale trials of chiropractic as a therapeutic modality for otitis media.
