Unstick Your Ears After A Flight

By Ben Popken February 12, 2009

Sometimes your ears get stuck during airplane rides and even an hour later, you’ve still got a painful pressure built-up and difficulty hearing. Here’s some things you can do to unclog the works.

Take ‘diver’s candy’ – Take stuff with pseudoephedrine in it for its decongestant properties.
Suck it – sucking on a hard candy encourages swallowing, which opens up the Eustacian tubes
Yawn – yawning opens up Eustacian tubes
Chew – so does chewing
Do the Valsalva maneuver – Inhale, close your nose and mouth, and blow the air against your cheeks. Don’t overdo it, do it every few seconds and you can irritate the tubes and make it worse.
Nasal decongestant sprays – Didn’t see this recommended anywhere else but I took some Afrin and it helped clear things up.

Bonus tip – if you’re prone to problems like this, pop some pseudoephedrine a few hours before your flight to help avoid it in the first place.

RELATED: 1 ear still stuffy after flight. Is this bad? [MetaFilter] (Photo: darkpatator)

Tagged With: , , , , ,
«
»

Comments

  1. Dustin says:
    February 13, 2009 at 5:35 pm

    Check out this Freediving and Scuba diving trick to clear your ears…
    After learning to freedive I started to notice I was a lot more sensitive to pressure changes… Valsalva works great but its very easy to REALLY HURT YOUR EARS if you don’t do it right. The technique to clear your ears by using muscles to open your Eustachian tubes is the best way to go, but you have to train your muscles to do it and you have to retrain yourself frequently if you don’t do it all the time…

    So instead this is what I use when I am out of the water…
    Step one: Pinch your nose
    Step two: Close your mouth
    Step three: Swallow

    Enjoy…

  2. Piri says:
    February 13, 2009 at 6:37 pm

    I stopped having problems with this when I started playing flute. My teacher taught me how to open my throat for very deep notes (which resulted in many yawns as I was learning). I just do that same thing on an airplane and it equalizes.

  3. GorillaEmperorOfEarth says:
    February 13, 2009 at 6:57 pm

    Sometimes when traveling by plane I would get the worst sinus pressure pain on takoff and landing. Sometimes it felt like I could die. I always take pseudoephedrine an hour or two before takeoff and landing plus the nasal decongestant. That combo seems to work most of the time.

  4. Kaz says:
    February 13, 2009 at 7:54 pm

    Great, we flew last week and my daughter was complaining about her ears… I knew the yawn trick and the chewing trick, but didn’t know the others. If only this was posted a few weeks earlier…

  5. Tony Huk says:
    February 13, 2009 at 8:44 pm

    I usually give my earlobes a firm pull… it opens up a gap that lets the pressure equalize… Try it sometime… just don’t tug… a firm, steady pressure is all it takes.

  6. dclong2008 says:
    February 14, 2009 at 1:30 am

    Not to mention the wicked tweak pseudoephedrine will give ya! No sleep for the wicked …

  7. Anonymous says:
    February 14, 2009 at 5:16 am

    I’m a SCUBA diver, and the method that divers use to equalize their ears while diving is just as effective in these situations. Just hold your nose tightly and blow threw it until your ears pop. It works every time!

  8. Monica Teasdale says:
    February 15, 2009 at 2:02 am

    I need my dolls!

    Since I am prone to ear infection, my doc recommended the decongestant route, especially when I can’t get a non-stop. A few well-timed pills works very well for me….

  9. Jason Richmond says:
    February 15, 2009 at 1:49 pm

    I have one really tight tube – the only thing that works (and it took me 20years and 10+ ENT Doc’s is the following -

    On the way down:
    (this is similar to the hold nose and blow technique)
    1) Use your finger to plug the ear that you DO NOT want to pop – make a perfect air tight seal.
    2) Use other hand to hold nose closed
    3) Create air pressure in your mouth to pop ear
    Repeat for other side if needed.

  10. Smorgasbord says:
    February 16, 2009 at 11:14 am

    Another simple way is to hold your nose and try to suck in or blow out, depending on whether you are in a higher pressure area or a lower pressure one.

  11. Abu-Alam says:
    February 19, 2009 at 8:55 am

    True story:
    I have a rare medical condition, I can open Eustachian tube wellingly, when I do that it makes a tiny sound like a cockroach, I won so many bets that started with “Can you make a sound of your ear?” I remember seeing my friends’ faces get a shock when I do that and accusing me that the sound is from my jaw=D

« Older Comments