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Health & Fitness

Take Control of Chronic Childhood Ear Infections (Part 2)

Don't spend another sleepless night pacing the halls with a screaming toddler in your arms.

A study citing a correlation between chiropractic care and resolution of ear infections was mentioned in "." This study was published in a chiropractic journal.  It then spurred further research into the uses of chiropractic care for acute and chronic ear infections. The critical question was - how would chiropractic fare head-to-head with standard pediatric care?

A 2003 study(1)  published in a pediatric medicine journal comparing children receiving manipulative therapy and those receiving standard pediatric care, found that those who received manipulative therapy had fewer episodes of Acute Otitis Media (AOM), fewer surgical procedures and had higher rates of normal tympanograms.

This amazing news for parents has been validated and confirmed numerous times since then. The International Chiropractic Pediatric Association (ICPA) even maintains a webpage of all the published research studies done on children’s ear infections and the role of chiropractic care in treatment and prevention. The last time I looked there where 25 separate studies listed. You can view the full list at: http://icpa4kids.org/Chiropractic-Research/Ear-Infection-Otitis-Media/

All this data and research is great, but at the end of the day what matters to parents is getting their own child out of pain and on a path to a success in school, sports and life without the constant interruption of ear infections. Don’t spend another sleepless night pacing the halls with a screaming toddler in your arms.

Don’t wait until another ear infection strikes. Prevention is always the better option. Besides, when your child is in pain, your anxiety level as a parent goes way up. Your doctor should want you to be able to ask all your questions and get all the facts at your own pace.  You should not feel pressured to make a decision or start treatment because your child is screaming. Of course, if your child does have current symptoms, your doctor will want to see both of you as soon as possible.

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1. Mills MV, Henley CE, Barnes LLB, Carreiro JE, Degenhardt BF. The use of osteopathic manipulative treatment as adjuvant therapy in children with recurrent acute otitis media. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine 2003; 157(9): 861-866.

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