Question
I have had pressure on my left ear f/5 yrs.Cat scan shows nothing. ENT says no problems but pain and pressure continue.  I also had a piece of wood in my ear that i removed with a water-pik. Then I got hit in the head w/hay bale. The ear pain keeps me from sleeping on that side and also from sleeping well at all. Have been using a mouth guard hoping that it would help.  i used to see a chiropractor regularly but he died a yr ago and have not seen anybody since. I truly think this problem has to do w/my neck or base of the skull. Thanks

Answer
Dear Machelle,

Thank you for your question about your chronic ear problems.  In order to answer you properly, I抣l first need to give you some background on anatomy and physiology and how they relate to the chiropractic profession.  I抣l then offer my thoughts on how this may relate to the matter you describe.  

There are two branches or schools of thought in chiropractic.  Briefly, they are differentiated by whether they deal with the limited therapeutic approach for aches and pains (commonly termed "mixed" chiropractic because it represents a mixture of a chiropractor with a non-chiropractic matter) or a non-therapeutic approach to optimum body performance (termed "straight" chiropractic because there is no mixing of chiropractic with anything else).  My expertise is in non-therapeutic straight chiropractic.

Therapeutic "mixed" chiropractic is the older approach based on a split from the founding principles of chiropractic about a century ago.

Non-therapeutic "straight" chiropractic is the more modern of the two.  It deals with a particular, common situation called a vertebral subluxation.  The spine is made of many bone segments which house and protect the spinal cord and the smaller spinal nerve branches that come off the spinal cord and exit between the bones.  These nerve pathways carry information or messages between the brain and the cells of the body.  These messages are essential for the life of the cells.  Without brain messages, the cells immediately begin the process of dying; i.e., they can no longer function the way they should to maintain life.

Because the bones are moveable, they can misalign in such a way as to interfere with the messages and, ultimately, the ability of the person to function at their best or express their optimum potential, whatever that may be.  People with vertebral subluxations are not able to get all they can out of life.

Vertebral subluxations can be caused by a wide variety of factors, what we'll generally call stresses.  These stresses can be physical (such as being hit in the head with a bale of hay, one would imagine, but also such things as exercise, sleeping posture and mattress condition, the birth process, sneezing, falling down, etc.), mental / emotional (in its many forms, probably the most familiar use of the word stress), or chemical (such as pollution, drugs, perhaps even alcohol, etc.), which are, unfortunately, uncontrollable and regular parts of daily living for all age groups.  In short, a vertebral subluxation can occur for a multitude of reasons.

Tragically, vertebral subluxations are rarely obvious to the individual they affect.  They usually have no symptoms.  The reason is that most of what goes on inside you happens without your awareness.  As an example, try to "feel" your liver (or, for that matter, your pyloric valve!).  What's it doing right now?  You can't know, so you can't know if it's functioning at its best or something less.  To complicate things, nerve pathways that carry messages of control (termed "motor" nerves) have no way of transmitting ache or pain messages, so your body function may be far from perfect and you'd not have any alerting signal whatsoever.  The branching of the nerve pathways is complex and extensive, making it exceedingly difficult to predict or determine exactly how the person will be affected.  For this reason alone, it is impossible for anyone to give you reliable answers as to a connection between spinal or nerve function and ear problems of any kind.  Certainly, every part of the body must have connections to the nerve system so that vital information may be transmitted between the brain and the cells.  There are some who would attempt to review the possible nerve connections between a nerve root and specific organs or tissues but, even if it were possible to trace a nerve pathway without doing an autopsy on them, this ignores the multitude of variables that determine the expression of function.  The question of how one抯 individual body carries out the myriad of activities just to maintain life is enormous and would require your Creator抯 (or creator抯, for the agnostic) knowledge, or at least far more than our educated knowledge of the complexities of life.

Now that you have more information about the body and vertebral subluxation, how do you make use of it?  Well, first understand that this is not an explanation of how someone should deal with chronic ear problems.  There may be many reasons as to why such things may occur, but pinning them down or naming them is not relevant to the matter of whether that person would benefit from being free of vertebral subluxations.  The short answer to your question is, vertebral subluxation is, in and of itself, detrimental to life.  As we said earlier, it is not valid or reliable to try to connect it to a symptom or an organ or tissue condition and there is no particular procedure in non-therapeutic straight chiropractic for treating chronic ear problems.  In order to know if someone has a vertebral subluxation, it is necessary to have that person抯 spine checked by a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor using a method of "analysis."  When a vertebral subluxation is detected this way, it is obviously important to correct it as soon as possible.  The term for this procedure is 揳djustment.? 

Since vertebral subluxations are caused by so many different things, people choose to go to a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor on a regular basis to enjoy the most time free of the life-robbing effects of vertebral subluxation. There's a saying that non-therapeutic straight chiropractic is not about your back, it's not about pain, it's about your life.  Each person has a unique potential in life.  With vertebral subluxation, it's impossible to realize that potential.

In summary, then, a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor has the professional objective of checking the spine on a regular basis for vertebral subluxations and safely correcting those that are found so that the individual may express their optimum potential on all levels.  

A key question to ask for your purposes, then, would be, Is someone who has an ear problem better off with vertebral subluxation / nerve interference or free of subluxation / with the nerve channels open?  It is easy to see that having all the available nerve messages getting through is better than only some of them getting through, regardless of the person's situation otherwise.  It抯 not that you should visit a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor FOR this problem ?you should visit one in an effort to be free of vertebral subluxations, even WITH such complaints.  Non-therapeutic straight chiropractic is not about diagnosing and/or treating this or any therapeutic-model or medical condition.  It is entirely separate in its goal.  

As I mentioned earlier, not all chiropractors adhere to this and it is important that you be able to distinguish which ones do if you抮e going to seek this type of service.  You need to understand very clearly that the practice objectives of therapeutic mixed chiropractic and non-therapeutic straight chiropractic are quite different, as described above.  What I can tell you must not be interpreted from the mixed viewpoint.  It is likely, given the limited information, that the chiropractor you had previously visited was of the therapeutic mixed chiropractic viewpoint.  I say this, in large measure, because of the connection you would presume to make to using it as a treatment.  It would certainly be wise for you to have your spine checked for vertebral subluxations by a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor (if living at your best is of any value to you!) even if you still elect to have therapeutic attention for the ear problems, whether that is with a therapeutic mixing chiropractor or an ear specialist or any other type of provider.  Remember, the two objectives are not the same.  

If you are interested in finding out how to locate a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor in your area, please contact me at this site again or at [email protected].  

Machelle, I wish you the best in understanding what non-therapeutic straight chiropractic has to offer.  It has been my pleasure to provide you with some information.

Sincerely,
James W. Healey, D.C.