Have any free divers had difficulty equalizing after breaking their nose?
I was an avid freediver in my late 20/early 30s, PB was 114’ in Grand Cayman…
I had two facial surgeries due to trauma- fractured zygomatic arch in 4 places requiring surgery and tiny plate and 4 screws. A few years later I badly broke my nose- shattered it, compound fracture with exposed bones... (flying muay thai knee to the face). Surgeon said it was broken in “too many pieces to count”… I found a great surgeon in Boston Mass General Hospital worthy of a Jewish princess. I have not had breathing problems after the initial recovery from surgery but I also never tried to push any depths free diving until I made an epic free diving trip to cenotes in Mexico this year….
I had a LOT of difficulty even making shallow dives swimming down vertically- I could NOT equalize… I could only make it to 27m pulling down the line foot first/head up. I cleaned a lot of technique issues with coaches Ashley and Ren Champman and Carlos Coste but I could still barely equalize head down…
I did have sinus congestion issues during the trip, but was taking mucinex premptively and Afrin… Feet first was the only way I could get down (27m was my deepest dive)...
Besides not practicing, could my equalization have gotten worse because of my broken facial bones?
I was an avid freediver in my late 20/early 30s, PB was 114’ in Grand Cayman…
I had two facial surgeries due to trauma- fractured zygomatic arch in 4 places requiring surgery and tiny plate and 4 screws. A few years later I badly broke my nose- shattered it, compound fracture with exposed bones... (flying muay thai knee to the face). Surgeon said it was broken in “too many pieces to count”… I found a great surgeon in Boston Mass General Hospital worthy of a Jewish princess. I have not had breathing problems after the initial recovery from surgery but I also never tried to push any depths free diving until I made an epic free diving trip to cenotes in Mexico this year….
I had a LOT of difficulty even making shallow dives swimming down vertically- I could NOT equalize… I could only make it to 27m pulling down the line foot first/head up. I cleaned a lot of technique issues with coaches Ashley and Ren Champman and Carlos Coste but I could still barely equalize head down…
I did have sinus congestion issues during the trip, but was taking mucinex premptively and Afrin… Feet first was the only way I could get down (27m was my deepest dive)...
Besides not practicing, could my equalization have gotten worse because of my broken facial bones?