I’ve just spoken on a coaching call to a client who has been diagnosed with swimmer’s ear. But it seems that the doctor didn’t explain what this was and what to do to prevent it in the future. Having suffered with swimmer’s ear early on in my triathlon career, I thought I’d give you the quick rundown.

Swimmers ear can result from any inflammation of the ear canal, but is usually caused by bacteria or in a small number of cases, by a fungal infection. It is more likely to occur if…

• You clean your ears with cotton-tipped earbuds or similar, because these remove the protective wax lining from the ear canal.
• You wear earplugs, hearing aids or earphones regularly.
• You swim or surf a lot and get water in or ears – a warm, wet atmosphere is ideal for the growth of the nasties that cause swimmer’s ear.

So, what do you do about it?

Well, if you have swimmer’s ear already, the a trip to your doctor is a good idea. He’ll usually give you some eardrops and get you to put olive oil in your ear every day – nice!

Once the infection has cleared up, you can either use custom earplugs every time you swim in order to minimise the water that ends up in the ear.These are preferable to the reusable putty or even Blutack that I have seen swimmers use – apparently Blutack isn’t very good for ears! My father-in-law uses custom earplugs when he goes surfing and swears by them.

Surf Plugs

Or you can invest in the slightly less costly option of swimmer’s ear drops. These are a slightly acidic solution, which both clear the water from the ear and provide an acidic environment disliked by the bacteria and fungi responsible. I’ve used these for the last 15 years or so and haven’t suffered with swimmer’s ear again.

Swimmer' Ear Drops

The only other alternative I can think of doesn’t bear thinking of… you could stop swimming!