Ear candling

Always on the lookout for treatments for headaches, I recently came across ear candling.  But keep reading before you start looking for a practitioner in your area.

Ear candling, also known as thermal-auricular therapy , or coning, is supposed to clean out impurities and wax from your ear.  The claim is that the procedure can help with headache, migraine, sinus pain, and a host of other problems.  Though it’s often promoted as a physical form of alternative medicine, there is also a spiritual emphasis – the belief that the candles can somehow influence the soul or "auras" of the body.  Supposedly, it is an ancient practice.  Sometimes called "Hopi candles", the claim is that the Hopi peoples of Arizona traditionally practiced ear candling.

The treatment involves using a hollow cone or candle, and placing it over the ear (with ample protection against dripping wax).  Supposedly the hollow candle works like a "chimney", sucking out impurities.

When a few people complained that they had been burned by wax, the criticism of the practice started to rise.  Wax on the eardrum is, of course, dangerous and can take a lot of work to remove.

Then the Hopi people were contacted, and claimed they never have done any ear candling.  Then the "impurities" were analyzed.  Turns out it wasn’t wax or toxins from the body, but byproducts of the candle itself!

In fact, since the ear canal is cut off from other parts of the body (such as sinuses), no suction can remove anything but wax – in fact, it can’t even remove wax, which is sticky and would need a tremendous vacuum before it would come out (such a vacuum would rupture your eardrum!)

So if ear candling doesn’t really remove any impurities, what is it doing?  Somewhat cornered, one practitioner said, "It doesn’t matter whether it’s being removed or not because you’re going to get some harmony through the changing of the energies and perhaps that’s all that’s needed."

In the USA, no ear candles can be sold for medicinal use.  In Canada, ear candles cannot be legally sold.  In a letter to anyone selling the product, Health Canada wrote:  Ear candles represent a potential health hazard to users … There is no valid scientific data available to support any therapeutic benefits associated with the use of ear candles.

So if you’re looking for a warm feeling and a nice massage, perhaps you should use the candles for ambiance, instead of letting someone stick them in your ears.

Ear candling photo courtesy of iBjorn