What Are Chronic Ear Infections?
Chronic is a term health care specialists use to describe conditions that are long-lasting or frequently recurring. If you get earaches that seem to linger or find yourself constantly having to schedule doctor’s appointments because of ear pain, you may have chronic ear infections.
Chronic ear infections can afflict people at any age—including children. Unfortunately, at any age, having ear pain constantly nagging you is a miserable way to go through life. The pain is not the biggest problem, though. Chronic ear infections can cause permanent ear damage and affect a person’s hearing over time.
Signs and Symptoms of Chronic Ear Infections
Ear infections generally cause pain that may feel like an ache deep inside the ear, or like a sharp, stabbing pain. You may feel pressure in the ear, itchiness, irritation, or notice a fluid (discharge) coming out of the ear.
Young children tend to fiddle with their ear or scratch it frequently. For parents, this is a good sign to look out for if you suspect your child has an ear infection.
Ear infections may cause fever, fatigue, and other cold and flu-like symptoms. In some cases, they can be accompanied by a build-up of fluids in the ear, and this may cause balance problems, dizziness, or vertigo. Severe ear infections can cause hearing loss to some extent.
How the Upper Cervical Spine Affects Chronic Ear Infections
This may come as a surprise to you, but the problem in your ears could be because of your spine. The upper cervical spine is located starting at the base of your skull, near the eustachian tubes. These tubes are tiny vessels that allow the fluid to drain from your ears.
When the vertebrae in your upper cervical spine are misaligned, it causes inflammation and swelling that can compress the eustachian tubes. This may result in a build-up of fluid in your ears that gets trapped, leaving the environment ripe for bacteria to fester and cause infections.
Correcting the misalignment in the upper cervical spine can reduce inflammation and swelling in the area, relieving the pressure and allowing the eustachian tubes to function properly again. This can reduce or eliminate chronic ear infections.
How We Treat Chronic Ear Infections
Dr. Noah Kaplan is an upper cervical spine specialist and owns the Advance Upper Cervical Chiropractic in Walnut Creek. The doctor is a board-certified practitioner of the Blair Chiropractic Technique and a member of the Blair Chiropractic Society.
The Blair technique is a modern chiropractic specialty that utilizes advanced technology to make better, more gentle, longer-lasting corrections to the upper cervical spine.
Dr. Kaplan’s office is the only office in the East Bay area using advanced 3D imaging Cone Beam computed tomography (CBCT) scans to assess the health of a patient’s upper cervical spine. Misalignments are easily detected and more precisely calculated in this way. The doctor then applies a unique form of low-pressure manipulations that are unlike the jarring twists and jerks found in traditional chiropractic methods. The Blair technique is much more comfortable for patients, offering an effective, drug-free, safe treatment for chronic ear infections.
Don’t let chronic ear infections put you or your child at risk for more serious issues down the road. Consider that bacteria and infections may be a symptom of a bigger issue that you can have corrected. Contact Dr. Kaplan for more information. Located in Walnut Creek, California, Dr. Kaplan also services Pleasant Hill, Concord, Lafayette, Danville, San Ramon, Dublin, Pleasanton, and Livermore.
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