How to lessen ear pain during landing and take off

While traveling by air, travellers face many problems. They may experience pain in ears during beginning of flight when the airplane is taking off or during landing. These drastic changes in height cause air pressure changes and can generate pain in ears.

Actually when aeroplane taking-off or landing, cabin air pressure changes quickly and disrupts the balance of pressure between the outer ear and the middle ear. Many individuals experience trouble when the higher pressure stretches the eardrum, the membrane separating the outer and middle ears. In flight, passengers who feel ear pain may exhibit numerous symptoms such as slight discomfort or pain in ear, feeling of fullness or stuffiness in ear and stifled hearing or slight to moderate hearing loss. If they experience pain for several hours, individuals’ complaint of severe pain, pressure in their ears just like being underwater, moderate to severe hearing loss, ringing in their ear (tinnitus), rotating sensation (vertigo), vomiting resulting from vertigo, and bleeding from ear.

To lessen ear pain while air travel, people must follow following tips:

People travelling in flight can lessen the problem of ear pain through some activities like swallowing, chewing gum, yawning, or opening their mouth wide.

The Valsalva manoeuvre may be helpful in reducing ear pain. They can also do activity like close nose with thumb and index finger and exhale mildly against a closed mouth. They can repeat this several times, especially during descent, to equalize the pressure between ears and the airplane cabin.

It is not recommended to sleep during take-offs and landings.

If people have any medical problem like severe cough, sinus, nasal congestion or ear infection, they must reschedule travel plans. People must use filtered earplugs. These earplugs gradually equalize the pressure against eardrum during take-off and landing.

If there is a congestion in nasal passage, travellers can use an over-the-counter decongestant nasal spray to an hour before take-off and landing. But avoid overuse.

If travellers have allergy to food or anything, do not forget to take allergy medication about an hour before your flight.

To recap, it is important to take precautions while planning to fly as several medical issues may develop. Ear pain is very common during landing and take-off. Travellers experience pain or discomfort during landing and take-off due to sudden change in pressure which blocks small tubes. Best practice to reduce such problem is yawning, swallowing, and become awaken during this time in flight.