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Chronic Earaches but not an Infection
“What if my doctor can’t find why I have anearache?”
There are many potential reasons you can have an earacheeven though it isn’t infected. One of the major causes could beyour upper neck.
Of course, if you or a family member is suffering from acute earpain, it is essential to see an earache treatment clinic Brisbaneto diagnose if you have an infection.
For many people, however, their assessment comes back completelynormal! If you are one of those people, you are nowhere in searchof answers for how-and-why you can have an earache butnot an infection?
One of the most important questions that your Brisbane earachenatural specialist should ask is for you to identify exactly whereyou feel your pain. The reason is that different parts of your earare associated with different nerves … andalso different causes!
It is also important because the place where many peopledescribe their “ear” pain is actually not the ear at all, butactually the area around the ear.
Especially if you are seeking a Brisbane earache naturaltreatment specialist, this one bit of precise information can makea world of difference in getting to the bottom of your earache.
What type of earache do you feel?
Your Brisbane premier earache natural treatment doctor will knowthe nerve affected by your description of where the pain orabnormal sensation is.
- Inside your ear behind the eardrum (where you cannotreach with a Q-Tip) is supplied by the tympanicbranch of your glossopharyngeal nerve (GPN). The GPN exits yourbrain just in front of the C1 vertebra at the base of yourskull.
- Inside your ear, including your inner ear lobe (calledthe tragus) and the skin behind your ear (where you can touch witha Q-Tip) is supplied by the auricular branch of your vagusnerve (VN). The VN also exits your brain just in front of the C1vertebra at the base of your skull. Of note, the VN also suppliessensation for the connection tissue around your brain and may beassociated with migraines!
- The skin on both sides of your outer ear lobe is supplied bythe articular nerve, which is comprised of branches originatingfrom the C2 and C3 vertebrae in your neck
- One centimeter in front of your ear isactually your TMJ or temporomandibular joint, which is commonlymistaken for ear pain. Your TMJ is highly affected by the alignmentof your C1 and C2 vertebrae.
- One centimeter below your ear is actuallyyour C1 vertebra, which may sometimes also be tucked just behindyour earlobe or jaw bone.
As you can see, the vertebrae in your upper neck - C1, C2, andC3 - may have a profound influence on the normal sensations of yourear, including pain and even earache!
And more importantly towards finding asolution!
Is it an earache? or is it your Atlas?
If you have been searching for earache pain treatment inBrisbane, you may not have considered the possibility that it maybe your neck that is the actual problem.
Your atlas is another name for the C1 vertebra at that base ofyour skull. It is the single vertebra the allows for the greatestamount of flexibility and mobility anywhere in your spine. Thetrade is that it is also the area most susceptible toinjury.
Not necessarily injuries that cause broken bones or evenbleeding, but even micro tears or damage to the ligaments thatsupport your head and neck may be enough to cause significanthealth problems down the track.
Think of something like a splinter in your finger: somethingvery small, but that cause lots of pain and discomfort.
Similarly, small injuries that affect the alignment of youratlas can have the potential to create tension or cause disruptionswith the normal transmission of information among the nerves inyour upper neck.
Depending on which nerve is affected, it is even possible thatan atlas misalignment may contribute towards an “earache.”
So when your Brisbane earache specialist looks to see if youhave an infection - and can’t find anything - it may be becausethey did not realize that your symptoms were actually coming fromsomewhere else.
Upper cervical care and earaches
If you have already gone down the Brisbane clinic earachenatural treatment route but not discovered a solution that hashelped you, it may be time to consider a different approach.
Here is where a unique approach to healthcare called “atlas” orupper cervical care may be able to help you.
An upper cervical or atlas practitioner is an advanced certifiedchiropractor, who focuses on the relationship between the top bonesin your neck and your nerve system. Unlike general chiropractic,the procedure that we use at Atlas Health Brisbaneuses no spinal manipulation, no twisting, and nocracking.
The process begins with a personalized physical and neurologicalexam to determine if you have a problem with the alignment of youratlas that could be the source of your earaches. If so, the nextstep is a series of unique x-rays that help reveal the exactdirection and degree of any misalignments in your neck.
Because many of these misalignments are so small - 2-5mm - ittakes great precision and care to find out exactly what it's goingon. (And may also explain why the problem has not been diagnosedbefore).
From there, we are able to prepare a personalized careprotocol designed specifically foryou to restore the alignment and movement throughyour upper neck.
When that happens, from our understanding of biomechanics andneurology, we believe that helps to reduce pressure or tension tothose nerves in the upper part of your neck, which allows your bodyto do what it is designed to do: heal itself.
So an atlas chiropractic doctor Brisbane doesn’t simply treatearache pain or other things like headaches, migraines or evenearache masked fibromyalgia symptoms. An atlas chiropractic doctorfocuses on correcting the cause of those problems when they mayoriginate from a misalignment in your upper neck.
Upper cervical care and earaches
At Atlas Health in North Lakes, we are the premier uppercervical or atlas chiropractic center in Brisbane.
We believe in the potential for every human being to live anextraordinary life, and we help people who have been strugglingwith challenging health conditions - including earaches and whohave been to every earache specialist Brisbane without answers -discover hope, healing and long-term solutions so that they canenjoy the quality of life that they desire most.
Dr. Jeffrey Hannah is our principal upper cervical chiropractor.He is an advanced certified instructor with the Blair ChiropracticSociety, an international lecturer, author, and recognized leaderin the field of upper cervical specific care.
So, how can we help you?
Our practice is happy to offer a no-obligation 15-minuteover-the-phone consultation with Dr. Hannah to discuss yourindividual condition and to answer any questions you may have sothat you can decide if upper cervical care is right for you.
If you would like to arrange a consultation, please contact uson 07 3188 9329.
Alternatively, you can fill out the Contact Us link at the topof this page, and one of our staff will return your message toschedule a time as soon as possible.
We would be privileged and honored to help you in any way thatwe can.
Atlas Health Australia - “Hope, healing, and wellbeingfrom above-down, inside-out.”
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Hestbaek L, Sannes MM, Lous J. Large cohort studyfinds a statistically significant association between excessivecrying in early infancy and subsequent ear symptoms. ActaPaediatr. 2014 May;103(5):e206-11. doi: 10.1111/apa.12570.Epub 2014 Feb 12. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24460724
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Murphy DR, Gay CW. Manual therapy and ear pain: areport of four cases. J Can Chiropr Assoc. 2011Mar;55(1):40-6. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21403781
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