By Dr. Michael Klaper
On a recent airline flight, as the plane was descending to land, I noticed the child in the seat next to me appeared to be in great pain. He appeared to be 6 or 7 years old, had his hands cupped over both ears, and screamed piteously as tears streamed down his face. As a physician, pilot and SCUBA diver, I knew that, as the plane was descending toward sea level, the air pressure in the cabin was increasing. This made the boy's eardrums bulge inward, causing great pain. I knew that he needed to get those eardrums back into the midline to relieve his pain – but how? Fortunately, our heads have a dandy mechanism to efficiently equalize pressures on either side of the eardrum as pressures change – he just needed to know about it and use it.
Eustachian Canal
Our Eustachian canal is a tiny tube running from the back of our nose up into the middle ear chamber.
Usually, as we go up and down in elevators and the air pressure changes, air quietly finds its way in and out of this canal via our nose and we are not even aware of its function. But if the lining of the canal is swollen from a cold, allergy, spicy food, or from just sleeping on that side before the flight, the Eustachian tube may be temporarily blocked and thus unable to efficiently allow air pressures to equalize – potentially resulting in severe ear pain if the eardrums get pushed severely inward.
If nasal congestion is known to be a problem before the flight, it can help to take an oral, over-the-counter decongestant before flying. But, the maneuver this distressed child needed is one every SCUBA diver uses as we descend into the ocean or lake and the water pressure quickly pushes our eardrums inward, potentially painfully. The diver knows to pinch their nostrils firmly closed and then blow air into their mouth until their cheeks puff out firmly – the “equalization maneuver.” Pressure great enough to puff out the cheeks raises the pressure in the nasal cavity enough to force air up the Eustachian tube. This promptly “pops” the inwardly-bulging eardrum back into midline position, immediately relieving the pain.
Where the SCUBA diver must continually “equalize” as they dive deeper, the airline passenger usually only has to do the maneuver once or twice before they are on the ground. I leaned over, demonstrated to the boy how to pinch his nostrils and puff out his cheeks, and he performed the maneuver beautifully – and obtained immediate relief from his pain.
This is good knowledge for all fliers to have and I have taught it to many of my Plant Based Telehealth patients, as well. It turned out the lad, named Wyatt, had a great interest in science, and so, as the plane taxied after landing, we talked about ears and air pressures all the way to the gate…perhaps a future plant-based physician in the making?!