Ear Infections and Chiropractic

Recently, a friend of my husband brought up the fact that her child is having great difficulty with ear infections, to the point of having to place tubes in his ears to relieve some of the symptoms. While this is a very common practice, it may not always be a necessary one.

In terms of ear infections, ear pain is the number one reason why children end up seeing a chiropractor. During my research to find some useful information for our friend to take into consideration, I found these statistics:

“A promising study published in the Journal of Clinical Chiropractic Pediatrics indicates that there is a strong correlation between chiropractic adjustments and the resolution of ear infections. Three hundred thirty-two children with chronic ear infections participated in the study. Each child, ranging in age from 27 days to 5 years, was given a series of chiropractic adjustments. The results show that close to 80% of the children did not experience another ear infection within the six-month period following their initial visits. The six-month period included maintenance treatments from four to six weeks.”

With such a useful tool available, it is important for parents to understand that there are options available to them before the use of invasive surgery. While chiropractic did not show a 100% success rate in the study for all children, a quick Google search reveals that the success rate for ear tube placement is somewhere near 78%. This is just slightly lower then chiropractic ranked in the study published by the Journal of Clinical Chiropractic Pediatrics. This is the information parents need in order to make informed decisions about their children’s health.