I also get an inflamed left ear, mostly the ear lobe. And some pain on the same side of the head. Definitely something going on with circulation there.

Did you ever try the "3 Minutes..." stretch set by Weisberg? It's easy to add as it is only 3 minutes and I found it very helpful for improving my overall body. Another good one I discovered recently was a video by Katy Bowman called "Aligned and Well - From the Shoulders Up".