 skin from the trauma and cause swimmer’s ear.
- Temporomandibular joint disorders — this cannot only cause pain behind hear but also pain in your jaw. This is the jaw joint that connects your lower jawbone to your temporal bone. A person could be susceptible to this disorder because of a jaw injury, bruxism, or a whiplash injury.
- Block Eustachian tube — this is a canal that connects your middle ear to your nasopharynx, which consists of the back of your nasal cavity and upper throat and controls the pressure within your middle ear. Normally this tube is closed but if it becomes blocked it could be responsible for pain behind ear in addition to around your ear. Your Eustachian tube can become blocked due to a sinus infection, allergies, cold, flu, or pressure changes when flying.
- Ceruminosis — this is the medical term that refers to the buildup of earwax in your ear canal. When there is an excessive accumulation of earwax it could cause a feeling of fullness in your ear, itching, muffled hearing, and pain behind ear. It can be caused by the overproduction of way by your glands. It could also happen if you have a narrow ear canal. It can also be caused by you unknowingly pushing the wax deeper into your ear canal when cleaning your ears with a cotton swab.
- Cervicogenic headache — this is pain that radiates from the base of your neck to your head. When you have excessive stress on the upper joints of your neck due to certain movements of your neck or poor posture can cause damage to your ligaments, nerves, joints, and muscles of your neck and cause this pain along with pain behind ear. It can also be caused by whiplash. This type of headache affects about four percent of the population and accounts for seventeen percent of severe headaches. It is also present in approximately half of the people who have suffered whiplash.
When you see your physician for pain behind ear he will do a physical examination and ask your symptoms. They may also ask if:
- You are running a fever
- The pain is on the outside or deep inside your ear
- There is any fluid dripping from your ear
- The pain resembles a headache
- The bone behind your ear is tender when you touch it
- There is any tenderness in your jaw
- You feel any fluid in your ear that does not go away after swallowing
- You have a toothache on the same side
Answers to these questions will help your physician diagnosis the cause of your pain behind ear and what type of treatment will be needed.
Treatment for Pain Behind Ear
Depending on what the underlying cause is for the pain behind ear you may need to take a round of antibiotics. If it due to excessive earwax your physician will treat and remove the excessive wax in their office. For the pain your physician may have you take over-the-counter pain medication.