Ear Infection
According to the Centers for Disease Control, ear infection is the most frequent childhood illness and accounts for nearly 30 million medical visits each year. Often unnecessarily, six million courses of antibiotics are written for a condition usually known to be of viral origin. In other words, an antibiotic is ineffective against viruses, but the concerned parent feels some degree of consolation by leaving the pediatrician’s office with a prescription.
Chronic infections are due to a compromised immune system. The immune system depends upon vitamin and mineral supply much like builders of a house rely upon bricks and wood. As we all know, insufficient building materials result in an undesirable living arrangement. Also, powerful immunity depends upon central command from the nervous system. Alterations in neurological function can, therefore, contribute to downstream immune malfunctions, making the body susceptible to infection.
Symptoms & Diagnosis
Crying, ear pain, congestion, associated cold or flu-like symptoms, and a host of other dysfunctions can point to an ear infection.
Medical Treatment
Treatment usually involves antibiotics which target bacteria and are, therefore, ineffective against the viruses that frequently cause ear infections. Research shows that antibiotics usually fail to cure the problem and that recurrence rates are actually higher in children treated with antibiotic therapy. Likewise, surgically-inserted tubes (tympanotomy) in the ear, tend to develop scar tissue with a potential of future hearing loss.
Chiropractic is the only health discipline focused upon the intricate linkage between the nervous system and the immune system. Adjustments stimulate the immune response, increase blood flow to the tonsils, and gently stretch the eustachian tubes, resulting in quicker recovery and decreased susceptibility to such infections.
The nervous system directly affects the spleen, lymph nodes, thymus, and lymphoid cells. When irritated free nerve endings cause muscular spasm in the delicate neck muscles near the ear, pressure on lymphatic ducts prevents adequate drainage inside the ear.
Gentle adjustments stretch these spastic muscles, allow lymphatic drainage, and help the body to do what only it can do – destroy the cause of pain and infection. Knowing that antibiotics kill all bacteria (including the beneficial kind) and that ear infections are usually the result of viruses, it’s not difficult to make a case for limiting a child’s exposure to antibiotics. Divine Design Natural Health believes in natural health and that your child has the ability to heal if given the proper opportunity to do so.
