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"Ouch, my ears hurt."
It's a common complaint we hear from kids traveling by air. And it's often infants and very young children who suffer the most. However older kids and adults can experience ear pain in the skies, too.
The ear-popping sensation we feel when we fly is a common, normal part of airplane travel and is usually nothing more than an annoyance. Flying, says Dr. Matthew Messoline, a family medicine doctor with Sharp Rees-Stealy Medical Group, causes "ear barotrauma," a condition that causes ear discomfort due to pressure changes.
In each ear, the eustachian tube — a narrow passage that connects the middle ear to your throat and nose — helps regulate ear pressure. The ear pain felt is the difference in pressure between the airplane cabin and the pressure behind the eardrum, which has yet to equilibrate. It's painful during ascent and descent because there is a changing atmospheric pressure.
"Once you reach cruising altitude, you should be able to equilibrate and your ears should not hurt any longer," Dr. Messoline says.
He suggests these five tips for easing ear pain during air travel:
Contact your doctor if you are concerned that your eardrum may have ruptured during a flight. While ruptured eardrums usually heal on their own, some may require treatment, such as antibiotics or even surgery.
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