Position the child face up on a bed, with the crown of her head close to the edge. Do not use a pillow or cushion to support her head, unless it is very thin. The child’s head should be level straight and not rotated. Make yourself as comfortable as possible, so that both of you will enjoy the treatment. During this massage and articulations, try at all times to keep your fingers in contact with the child.
Place your open hands gently on the child’s upper rib cage, making sure her clothing is loose around the neck. Sense and feel her chest rising and falling. Ask the child to breathe in deeply and then exhale. When the child appears to have expelled the air from her lungs, gently push down on the rib cage two or three times, and release, keeping your hands in contact with a chest wall. Do this, three or four times.
Then using the inside of your index fingers, stroke her neck from the lobes of the ears downwards to the shoulders. Four or five times should be enough.
Using the middle three fingers, make small circular motions from in front of the lobes of the ears to the nose. Follow the line of the Eustachian Tube and pass over the Maxillary Sinus. Allow the massage to be gentle, smooth and always stroke in a downward direction towards the heart. Do this several times.
With your thumb above and forefinger below, take hold of the child’s chin. Rest your other hand gently but firmly on the child’s forehead. Ask her to open her mouth under resistance; you’re making it difficult for her to open her mouth. Do this several times, and then ask her to open her mouth wider under the same resistance. When she closes her mouth, let her do so naturally. Then, allow her to open her mouth naturally but use resistance when she tries to close it. Be firm but gentle. Then, return to the massage from the ear lobes to the nose, and stroke her neck.
Take hold of both ears. The flats of your hands should be against the skull with the ears protruding between the middle and ring fingers. Rotate them clockwise two or three times, and anticlockwise two or three times. Do not pull her ears away from her head. Then again, return to the massage from the earlobes to the nose, and stroke her neck.
Cup your hands and, covering her ears, gently press three or four times. You might sense a sucking feeling on your palms during this ear pump. Do not use this ear pump initially when a child wakes up during the night with pain in the ear. Do the rest of the treatment, have a cup of tea and repeat the treatment, but this time include the ear pump. Then again, return to the massage from the ear lobes to the nose, and stroke the neck.
Now leave the cheekbone area and massage up through the temple region onto her forehead. When your hands meet, worked down onto the Ethmoid Sinus, and then back up onto the Frontal Sinus areas. Using circular motions, massage her forehead with your fingers and her crown with your thumbs. It is a bit like tapping your head rubbing your tummy at the same time!
Massage her temples and slip your fingers under her neck. Rock the child’s head slowly and gently side to side and, at the same time and in tandem, rock our own body in the same direction. This makes it much easier to massage the child’s neck on the bed. Then, massage the back of her head for about thirty seconds.
Massage back down to the base of the skull where there is a nice ledge on the occiput for the tips of your fingers to get hold of. Gently clamp your thumbs against the temple region so that your hands are in full control of her head and neck. Now, you can traction and compress her spine and spinal by using your own body. If you slightly lean backwards, you will apply traction while if you lean forward you will apply compression. Take your time as you repeat this slow and gentle technique six or so times.
Then gently massage the sides of her neck. You need not touched the survival bones of the neck. When your hands are behind the child’s head, make sure she is relaxed. Ask her to think of your hands as the pillow. The child is not relaxed if the muscles at the front of her neck protruding.
Gently grasp her shoulders and pushed downwards towards her feet three times, and then push towards the bed three times.
After a few weeks practice, this treatment should take only about fifteen minutes. In acute cases or when the child has a cold, you can treat her once or twice a day. In chronic cases three times a week will suffice. If there are also sinus problems, reverberate across all three main sinus areas with a gentle downward and forward thrust of your fingertips. Do this in conjunction with the ear treatment, especially when the child has a cold. Remember: three days of the virus could cause weeks of congestion without this treatment.
Dr. Tony Matthews
Note: More information on this subject may be found on Dr. Matthews website: http://www.sinusearinfections.com/ and a video https://vimeo.com/12749323 that is used in conjunction with the notes above for parents.
