Chiropractic Helps With Respiratory Virus and Ear Infections According to New Study

Recent research reporting on improvement in a 20 month old girl undergoing chiropractic care reveals that chiropractic may play an important role in managing children with respiratory syncytial virus and ear infections.

The research, reported in the Journal of Pediatric, Maternal & Family Health – Chiropractic, details the experience of a young child through 20 months of chronic illness that responded to chiropractic intervention and calls for more research in this area.

“Numerous case studies and some clinical studies are revealing that there is a relationship between abnormalities in the spine, the nervous system and the various problems related to ear infections” stated Dr. Francesca Marino, one of the authors of the paper. “These types of structural problems in the upper part of the neck cause a back-up of the lymphatics and problems with the tubes draining the middle ear. By removing the structural imbalance chiropractic helps these fluids drain, and improves nerve supply and range of motion.”

The unique aspect of this case study is the concomitant infection with respiratory Synctial Virus (RSV) which is the most common cause of viral lower respiratory tract infection in infants and children with 90% of children infected by 2 years of age. After several rounds of antibiotics, nebulizer and bronchodilators the child continued to suffer. The child’s mother brought her to a chiropractor who checked the child’s spine for vertebral subluxations, found them and then reduced them. “Abnormal position or movement of the spinal vertebra can develop and this can lead to nerve interference. It is this interference, called vertebral subluxations, that chiropractors correct” stated Dr. Awais Butt, the other author of the study.

“With everything we know about the dangers of antibiotic abuse and the side effects of drug use in children, chiropractic intervention makes perfect sense in the case of childhood ear and viral infections. In fact, chiropractic is the treatment of choice for dealing with the structural and neurological aspects of ear infections.” remarked Dr. Matthew McCoy, a chiropractor, public health researcher and editor of the journal that published the study, “This child was experiencing significant challenges as a result of her ear infections and the viral infection. Obviously, the medical intervention was not helping. It wasn’t until the chiropractic intervention that the child improved dramatically and in a very short time.”

The child was first diagnosed with ear infections when she was one month old. For the next year and a half the child had repeated infections that were unresponsive to multiple rounds of oral antibiotics.

The child’s health condition continued to deteriorate and at nine months of age was diagnosed with respiratory synctial virus, placed on a nebulizer and bronchodilators.

The mother decided to try chiropractic care after becoming increasingly frustrated that her daughter was not improving under the medical regime. The mother reported an improvement in the child’s quality of sleep within the first week of chiropractic care which consisted of only three visits. Within one month of care, the child had no recurrence of ear infection and her mother elected to stop giving her child the oral antibiotics. Within three months of care, she brought her child back to the pediatrician and was told the child no longer had RSV. The patient, now four years old, has had no further occurrences of ear infection or RSV.

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