A recent study from the “Journal of the American Medical Association” looked at emergency treatment given to about 300 children between the ages of 6 and 12. The study focused on the approach called “delayed prescribing.” During the study, half of the kids received an antibiotic and the other half were given a waiting period of 48 hours before they could get an antibiotic. Almost two-thirds of the parents that had the wait–and–see approach did not bother to fill the prescription because their child got better on their own. The researchers concluded the risk from taking the antibiotic outweighed the slight benefit of taking it.
Another study looked at the effectiveness of the insertion of tubes in the ears. A common misconception for the insertion for tubes is the fear of developmental delays for the child. This study looked at 429 children ages 3 or younger with persistent ear infections. The researchers followed 391 of these children when they were ages 9 to 11 and concluded that tubes do not improve the development as they get older.
So, rather than treating the symptoms of the ear infections, why not get to the cause of why they happened in the first place? Dumping our children with medications is not the answer.
There are many safer and very effective ways to deal with ear infections. The No. 1 option I recommend is to have the child’s nerve system evaluated by a chiropractor. Misalignments in the spine can cause pressure on the nerves in the neck. This in turn can cause a malfunction of the muscles within the ear and can interfere with the drainage of the ear canal.
Many dietary considerations are also important. The first thing is to eliminate milk from children’s diets. Milk actually causes the body to secrete mucus and this mucus can cause severe chaos within the bodily systems of children.
Children are designed to be healthy; symptoms are a way for the body to tell us something’s wrong. Masking the symptoms with medications only shuts down the signal while the body slowly breaks down. Giving children the tools to be healthy will ensure an opportunity for them to reach their maximum health potential.
Dr. Scott Glocke is the director of Back Cove Family Chiropractic in Yarmouth. He has been a family wellness chiropractor for the past 6 years and specializes in wellness for the entire family. Contact him at drscott@backcovechiro.com.