{"id":1281,"date":"2017-08-17T14:47:16","date_gmt":"2017-08-17T20:47:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fueldev.site\/~swient\/?p=1281"},"modified":"2018-09-10T10:52:59","modified_gmt":"2018-09-10T16:52:59","slug":"ear-pain-on-a-plane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swient.com\/ear-pain-on-a-plane\/","title":{"rendered":"Ear Pain on a Plane"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Your trip is planned. Your bags are packed, and you just found your seat on the flight to your dream destination. As you are flipping through one of the air-mall magazines and the plane starts to take off, you feel it. Your ears are popping, prickling. It’s not bad now, but you know it’s going to hurt during the descent. Does this scenario seem familiar? Unfortunately, for many people, a flight means more than air-mall magazines and bags of peanuts–ear pain on a plane is a common occurrence. Our Ear, Nose, and Throat doctors will explain why.<\/p>\n

In-Flight Ear Pain<\/h2>\n

Ear pain on the plane is most common when the plane is landing, and the pain gets stronger with lower elevations. The cause is due to the inequality of pressure. The air outside the ear is changing in pressure as the plane descends, meaning that the pressure outside the ear is at odds with the pressure in the middle ear. The eardrum is pushed in, and the pressure in the middle ear needs to change quickly to match and relieve the eardrum. One remedy to relieve the discomfort is inserting an Eustachian tube in the ear. However, everyone is built differently, and some Eustachian tubes don’t open quickly enough to help change the pressure in the middle ear. That’s why some of us experience ear pain on the plane, and some of us don’t.<\/p>\n

Alleviating Ear Pain<\/h2>\n

Here are some tips on how to minimize and control the pain or discomfort:<\/p>\n