Sports Insurance Blog

Earache is the most prevalent purpose for office visits to pediatricians. By the age of three years, more than 70 percent of children will have had at least one experience of earache, and about a third will have had more than three incidents. However, what might be surprising is that earache is also the most general occurrence for children under the age of five years to be taken to the chiropractor’s office.

How Chiropractic Care Relates to Earache and Ear Infections

A pediatrician who suspects that a child with an earache has a middle ear infection will generally prescribe antibiotics as a typical course of treatment. Current research, however, has concluded that such practices are often misguided. The cause of the child’s middle ear infection may not be due to bacteria, and because antibiotics are only effective against bacterial pathogens, frequently there will be no positive result. The reason for this is that numerous cases of middle ear infection can be caused by a virus, and viruses do not respond to antibiotics. This may be the reason why children develop chronic ear infections.

One of a number of evaluations that a Honolulu chiropractor can make is whether the earache or ear infection is created by irritation of the small nerves in the spine, called free nerve endings.

When these nerve endings are irritated, an aberrant tension is generated in the small muscles of the neck. This muscle tension can place pressure on the lymphatic drainage ducts resulting in inadequate drainage from inside the ear, thus preventing the body from being able to naturally correct the problem. Additionally, balance can also be affected.

Assessment by a chiropractor of such a condition is made by the finding of increased tension in the neck and paraspinal muscles. Normally more tension is felt on the side of earache. The chiropractor also checks for spinal vertebrae that are either slightly out of alignment or are not moving within their normal range. This problem may have been the result of any one of the variety of bangs, jolts and falls that the majority of children undergo in the early years of their life. Often, a short regimen of spinal adjustments and manipulation of the neck muscles will aid in restoring normal lymph drainage. If your child is struggling with an earache or an ear infection, call your Honolulu chiropractor as soon as possible.

Advanced Research and Guidelines

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), ear infection, the most prevalent childhood sickness second only to the common cold, accounts for nearly 30 million doctor visits every year. Furthermore, at least 6 million courses of antibiotics are causelessly prescribed for the condition.Just recently, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released new guidelines for treating pediatric ear inflammation, and definitively recommended a period of “watchful waiting” since, in many cases, infections clear up on their own, without medication.

The American Chiropractic Association (ACA) endorses the AAP on the guidelines and emphasizes that chiropractic treatment is a “good first option” for treating ear infection conservatively. “Doctors of chiropractic have been treating children for decades with great success - helping them to avoid painful ear infections, antibiotic overuse and resistance, and ear tube surgery,” said ACA President Donald Krippendorf, DC. “Particularly when dealing with young children, drugs and surgery should be an absolute last resort.”

Cow’s milk appears to be considered one of   man’s greatest dietary errors. The more we discover what it does too our bodies the less we will be pleased about. For a great number of years, cow’s milk has continued to be sold as the “perfect food” for all of us and especially for our kids. Is this common sense?

The milk from all species of mammal is unique and particularly tailored to the needs of that animal. Cow’s milk is designed by nature to encourage the development of a rumen in the young cow’s digestive system. The rumen is similar too a fermenting vat with a grand population of bacteria that is imperative to breakdown huge amounts of fiber in the cow’s diet. Cow’s milk has several factors intended too stimulate bacterial growth in the intestines.  People, on the other hand, have a nearly sterile small intestine. Human milk, specifically intended for humans, includes substances that hinder intestinal bacterial growth.

People are subjected to milk in infancy and the long-term damage from consuming cow’s milk begins then. Consuming milk, during infancy, contributes to lack of tolerance, extreme sensitivity and hinderance with assimilation. The human infant is not able to convert cow’s milk into an absorbable form and this causes damage to the bowel mucosa. Young children that consume cow’s milk have small but significant bloodletting from their digestive tracts.  This bloodletting contributes to iron deficiency and anemia.  Health issues such as childhood diabetes, obesity, bowel disease, colic and ear infections are all linked too the consumption of milk in infancy.

One out of every five babies feels the pain of colic. Pediatricians have known for years that the consumption of cow’s milk was in many cases the problem. We now know that nursing mothers can also have a colicky baby if the mother consumes cow’s milk.

Cow’s milk is not only harmful to young children but it is also detrimental to adults.  The proteins in the cow’s milk causes matters of digestion, intolerance, impaired absorption of other nutrients and autoimmune responses. Many adults are lactose intolerant.  This is due to the fact that once we are weaned off breast milk our body ceases production of lactase, the enzyme that helps us to digest lactose.

Dairy products add a lot of cholesterol and fat to a person’s diet. A high cholesterol and high fat diet is linked with heart disease and other health concerns. Ovarian cancer is also linked to milk consumption. The sugar in milk called lactose is broken down to another sugar called galactose. This sugar influences a woman’s ovaries and expands her risk of developing ovarian cancer.

Humans are the only animals that drink another animal’s milk and to make matters even more unfavorable we consume it into adulthood.  Female mammals produce milk to supply as food and provide nourishment for their offspring. Once the infant is able to digest solid foods and the baby is taken off the mother’s milk it no longer consumes milk.

Much healthier options for human consumption are the fluids obtained from different kinds of plants and processed into milk.  These may be from nuts, grains, seeds or fruits. Many of these milks have been around for thousands of years in different parts of the world.  Best recognized are soy, rice, almond and coconut milk.

Milk Article by Fernanda B.Sc.Pharm, M.H., courtesy of HealthTopics.ca