EAR INFECTIONS August 2011

EAR INFECTIONS

This month I want to talk about ear infections. This topic is especially important to me because of my childhood. Yes, I had ear infections, many of them, several times every year. My parents would take me to the family physician who would look in my ears, make the determination that I did indeed have an infection in one or both ears and then prescribe an antibiotic. After several days, the antibiotic would kick in and my ears would start to feel better.

The question was; why did I continue to have ear infections several times each year, well into my teen years? And I noticed that I seemed to be the only kid in our neighborhood that was "lucky" enough to have them.

Of coarse there never were any real good answers to these questions.

Then when I was 16 and a sophomore in high school, it was suggested by a next door neighbor that I go to a chiropractor.

I did. After doing a case history, exam and x-rays, the chiropractor sat down with my mother and explained what he found and how he thought he could help me. It all sounded very logical.

To start with he told us that chiropractors do not heal conditions, only the body heals conditions. He said that if you have a particularly severe laceration, that stitches may be necessary to keep the wound closed, but that the body heals the wound. The same with a broken bone. A cast may be necessary to hold the ends of the broken bone in alignment, but that the body will heal the bone.

Regarding conditions like colds or strep throats or as in my situation, ear infections, medications may help with calming symptoms, but that the body will still heal itself.

He started to take care of me that day. On subsequent visits, he would ask me questions regarding health and healthcare. One time he asked me if I ever wondered why people who breath the same air and touch the same things will have different levels of health? Actually, I had wondered about situations like that before seeing him. Maybe my ongoing bouts with ear infections made me think about such things. Why would some people seem to have a lot of colds and others don't. or why did some kids have more sore throats than others. The easy answer to these questions is; the healthy persons immune system just works better. But that just leads to another question. Why does the healthy person's immune system work better?

Dr. B. (yes his last name began with a B also) explained how the brain runs everything and the signals travel from the brain to all of the parts of the body by way of the nervous system. He said that if those signals get blocked, then some part of the body will begin to malfunction.

This made sense to me. Even at age 16. This was the "missing link." People could be doing the same things, living the same way and have two different outcomes.

Research has shown the value of chiropractic in relation to the nervous system. One of the most important studies performed demonstrating this was by Dr. Ronald Pero, Ph.D., chief of cancer prevention research at New York's Preventive Medicine Institute and professor of medicine at New York University. It showed the positive effect that chiropractic care can have on the immune system and general health.

Dr. Pero measured the immune systems of people under chiropractic care as compared to those in the general population and those with cancer and other serious diseases. His initial three-year study was of 107 individuals who had been under chiropractic care for five years or more. The chiropractic patients were found to have a 200% greater immune competency than those people who had not received chiropractic care, and they had 400% greater immune competency than those people with cancer and other serious diseases. The immune system superiority of those under chiropractic care did not appear to diminish with age. Dr. Pero stated:

"When applied in a clinical framework, I have never seen a group, other than this chiropractic group, to experience a 200% increase over the normal patients. This is why it is so dramatically important. We have never seen such a positive improvement in a group."

Another study from Patricia Brennan, Ph.D., leading a team of researchers, conducted a study that found improved immune response in her test subjects following chiropractic treatment. The study specifically demonstrated that "phagocytic respiratory burst of polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN) and monocytes were enhanced in adults that had been adjusted by chiropractors." Yes, I know that's a mouthful. Basically, it means the immune systems white blood cells work better after chiropractic care.

Life Chiropractic University produced an incredible study from the Sid Williams Research Center in 1994. The researchers took a group of HIV positive patients and adjusted them over a six-month period. What they found was that the "patients that were adjusted had a forty-eight percent (48%) increase in the number of CD4 cells (an important immune system component)." These measurements were taken at the patients' independent medical center, where they were under medical supervision for the condition. The control group (the patients that were not adjusted) did not demonstrate this dramatic increase in immune function, but actually experienced a 7.96% decrease in CD4 cell counts over the same period.

I started receiving chiropractic care during a particularly bad ear infection. After several days of care, the infection began to improve. That was my last ear infection, ever.

Does chiropractic cure ear infections? No. You do. Health is a result of your body functioning the way it was intended. Your body knows how to be well. It knows how to function correctly. As long as your brain is able to communicate with the rest of your body without interference; it will function correctly and you will express health.

The purpose of chiropractic is to eliminate nervous system interference. The innate wisdom of the body takes over and begins the process of restoring your health.

 If you like watching videos, here's one regarding chiropractic and ear infections.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpgxqfDECP4&feature=BFa&list=PL8F3CB646BF76995D&index=2

Please…if you have any questions, or would like any information on any health topic, it would be my pleasure to help you! Talk with you next month………

Dr. Greg

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