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Broken nose and eye orbital- effects on equalization-?

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MELISSA BARDFIELD

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May 22, 2017
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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've broken my nose a bunch of times, but nothing quite as serious (downhill mountain biking crashes). I've never had any issues equalising because of it.

It sounds possible, but I'd wager it's something a specialist would need to inspect. I feel like you'd have other symptoms. But I don't know. My gut tells me that if you can dive to 27m you're probably fine. I'm absolutely no expert, of course.

There are other reasons you might have trouble equalising. Which technique are you using?


Are your ears clean? Wax can be pushed further into your ear canals and can make it very hard to equalise. Once it's in there it can be very hard to get out.




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Thanks for your reply.
I only made it to 27m pulling down the line feet down (no fins) and head up... My ears are not waxy. I had some amazing world class coaches cleaning up my technique. I kept attempting to go head down and it was like I hit a brick wall, but with my head up I equalized easily.
 
Fair enough! That's an interesting situation. If no one here can provide some insight I'd consider talking to a specialist (who do you talk to about sinuses?). Either way I'd love to know what the answer is.


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I don't know how those traumas affected the internal layout of your face and sinus, bit it is not hard to imagine that several severe traumas to the face could displace or change the shape of the eustachian, thus making it more difficult to equalize.
 
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Funny my last bad nose break (some years ago now) was a flying knee while clinch training Muay Thai. It was a pretty light tap, not intended to land but I moved into it... nothing like what you describe but my nose was sideways for a while... but different breaks have never so far interferred with my eq.

I would try to find a freedive knowledgeable ENT, DAN maintains lists. Also, since you were in the a new place there could have been allergens that were irritating your sinuses. Classes always put extra stress on people, could also be a factor.

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