Shaking Your Head to Remove Water from Ears Can Cause Brain Damage, Study Suggests
Shaking head is one of the most common methods people use to get rid
of water in their ears, but it can also cause complications as
researchers have found that trapped water in the ear canals can cause
infection and brain damage.
Researchers revealed that shaking the head to free trapped water can cause brain damage in small children.
"Our research mainly focuses on the acceleration required to get the water out of the ear canal," said a researcher and study author.
"The critical acceleration that we obtained experimentally on glass tubes and 3D printed ear canals was around the range of 10 times the force of gravity for infant ear sizes, which could cause damage to the brain," he said.
For adults, the acceleration was lower due to the larger diameter of the ear canals. They said the overall volume and position of the water in the canal changes the acceleration needed to remove it.
"From our experiments and theoretical model, we figured out that surface tension of the fluid is one of the crucial factors promoting the water to get stuck in ear canals," said the researcher.
Luckily, the researchers said there is a solution that does not involve any head shaking.
"Presumably, putting a few drops of a liquid with lower surface tension than water, like alcohol or vinegar, in the ear would reduce the surface tension force allowing the water to flow out," he said.
Researchers revealed that shaking the head to free trapped water can cause brain damage in small children.
"Our research mainly focuses on the acceleration required to get the water out of the ear canal," said a researcher and study author.
"The critical acceleration that we obtained experimentally on glass tubes and 3D printed ear canals was around the range of 10 times the force of gravity for infant ear sizes, which could cause damage to the brain," he said.
For adults, the acceleration was lower due to the larger diameter of the ear canals. They said the overall volume and position of the water in the canal changes the acceleration needed to remove it.
"From our experiments and theoretical model, we figured out that surface tension of the fluid is one of the crucial factors promoting the water to get stuck in ear canals," said the researcher.
Luckily, the researchers said there is a solution that does not involve any head shaking.
"Presumably, putting a few drops of a liquid with lower surface tension than water, like alcohol or vinegar, in the ear would reduce the surface tension force allowing the water to flow out," he said.