Bottom Pressure

[MagnumResearch]

Hey guys! Would someone out there possibly know of a technique on how to relieve your ears of the hurtful pressure when diving down deep? I do pretty good up to about 20 feet but then my ears start to hurt. If anyone out there knows of a way to relieve this pressure for better diving, please let me know! Thanks a lot guys!

[mark]

THE ONLY TECHNIQUE THAT I KNOW OF THAT WORKS IS TO HOLD YOUR NOSE AND BLOW LIKE HELL. MAYBE SOMEONE ELSE CAN HELP HERE.
MARK

[rvernetti]

You need to clear your ears on the way down. Hold your nose and blow steadily, your ears should "equalize" to the water pressure. You must repreat this process every 6-12 feet as you dive. Everyone has different ear canals and some people have an easier time doing this. Taking an antihistimine before a dive helps sometimes.
RV

[fitto]

yep thats right ,it just the same as when you decsend in an aiecraft only about 10 times worse

[k9gsd]

Hey guys! Would someone out there possibly know of a technique on how to relieve your ears of the hurtful pressure when diving down deep?


Everyone is different. Most gently squeeze nose and lightly exhale through nosse. I say gently as too hard can cause sinus or ear problems.
Moving your jaw around like you're chewing gum often works. And yawning usually works for me. Usually once past 25-30 feet my ears stay clear.
Some divers are helped with a decongestent. But check with a Doc who is familiar with diving for his recommendation on this as some meds can cause serious problems at depth.

When I dive on a regular basis my ears clear much easier.

DO NOT ever dive to the point of pain without clearing your ears!! You can cause major medical problems!

Most dive shops offer cheap instruction on breath hold diving and often can fit you into the first couple SCUBA classes where they cover this part of diving.

On this note. I firmly believe it is a well worth the time and money to invest in a SCUBA class before you enlist for BUDS. Why go through all the training just to find out diving is not for you, and then you can better invest yourself in a Land-Air based service. If you like diving then you can go on with a whole lot more confidence and one less unknown obstacle ahead. Just IMO 50% of diving is 90% mental. ;-)

Regards,
Robin
Albany, NY

[MattH]

I'm a SCUBA diver so I know exactly what i'm talking about. The body has different air spaces that need to be equalized when you dive, because as the pressure builds the deeper you go, the spaces can become squezed, causing injury. The lungs are automatically equalized simply by the act of breathing (Most Important Rule Of Diving: Always Breath, Never Hold Your Breath), but you need to manually equallize your ears, sinuses, and the artificial air space caused by your dive mask. To do this, you add more air to these spaces the deeper you go. On the surface, equalize your ears by holding you nose shut, and blowing LIGHTLY out your nose. This equalizes your ears and sinuses. Do this about every TWO to THREE feet you go down. Do the same for your dive mask by just normally exhaling out your nose into the mask whenever you equalize your ears. If you don't know this, you shouldn't be SCUBA diving!
Sorry for the long explanation, but if you do what Mark or the other guy said (hold your nose and blow like hell, or do this every 15 feet) you'd be one hell of an *******, and not to mention a dead man. No offense anybody.