Ear Equalisation

[ChrisJ]

Hi All,
I have a question, just returned from the red sea where i had ear equalisation problems, I belong to a snorkelling club here at home and we practice weekly our breath holding and of course ear equalisation, now on this trip I was diving down to around 25 feet and was experienceing discomfort mainly in my left ear, I was equalising at the surface, around a metre then 5 metres but as soon as i hit 25feet (as recorded by my watch) I felt discomfort and immediately headed up, I had taked sudafed with me but this didnt help, should I be trying different equalisation techniques any advice gratefully received...
Chris.

 

[Simos]

There are many threads here Chris about equalisation - it's probably to do with relaxation and technique. If you felt discomfort at 25 feet it probably means you missed equalising a lot earlier so I would really focus on getting the equalisations right in the first 5m or so. Make sure you equalise early and often and read up on the different equalisation techniques - you are probably using Valsava which will not get you very deep anyway so worth looking up Frenzel...

 

[ChrisJ]

many thanks for the advice, yes am using valsalva, will read up and practice the frenzel technique in my weekly pool training