AIRPLANES AND EAR PAIN: What to do & why it happens?

Airplanes journey is one of the most exciting journey for everyone. And due to the advancements of technology, everybody wants to lead a comfort life in the present era. Airplanes and ear pain both are associated with each other. The reason behind ear pain is air pressure during landing and take-off, and thus causes painful pressure in the ear.

Air travel can mean ear trouble when you are not prepared. There can be one question in your mind does it happen to everyone, the answer is that  the pressure change is happening to everyone but the effects are different on different people.

Like if there is a patient who is congested(having fever etc) then in that case it is harder for his ears to adapt anything quickly. Basically, the ear pain causes due to the change in pressure it can be rapid or slow.

How it happens

One of the most important question to ask is, what really happens to ears when we fly? It all comes down to air pressure. If we talk about the air pressure inside the inner ear and the air pressure outside normally, they are essentially the same, or we can say it’s not different enough to cause any trouble.
A problem only occurs when the change in pressure is so rapid, that the pressure inside the inner ear and the air pressure outside don’t have the time to equalize.
During take off, the pressure inside the inner ear quickly surpasses that of the pressure outside. And the Tympanic membrane or eardrum swells outward. If we talk about converse relation, both the inner and outer ear pressure rapidly becomes less than the air pressure outside, and thus  the tympanic membrane will be sucked inward, almost like a vacuum effect.
Ear Barotrauma is also one of the effect that occurs during pressure change and causes discomfort to ears. There are many symptoms of ear barotrauma, some of them are dizziness, difficulty in the hearing and ear discomfort.
One should need to equalize the pressure by introducing as much air as possible via the Eustachian tube- also called auditory tube, hollow structure that extends from the middle ear to the pharynx(throat) and there are several ways to do that.

1. Swallowing: It is one of the technique to equalize the air pressure via Eustachian tube.The Eustachian tube ensures that the air in the middle is constantly being replenished.
2. Chewing gum or sucking on hard candy: It will stimulate frequent swallowing which helps equalize air pressure.

And one more effective method to equalize air pressure is with a mouthful air, close your mouth and hold your nose shut.This is the best method one can perform during their journey.
Prevention is better than cure-
It is always advised that one should take proper prevention. That’s why it is said prevention is better than cure. Following are the key points you need to remember before take off or landing:

1. Use filtered ear plugs.
2. Avoid sleeping during ascent and descent.
3. Drink lots of water to keep yourself hydrated.
4. Avoid traveling if you are ill.
5. Always carry nasal-spray with yourself.
6. Plan your journey accordingly.
7. Keep yawning during ascent and descent.