Left ear doesn't equalize properly

[Simos]

I try to do Frenzel as I prefer that. But when it comes to equalising once I'm in the water and inverted, thats when it gets hard for me to equalise properly. I think on the first 2 dives I was rushing it and not equalising on the surface properly. The 3rd dive I took my time and eqaulised before my duck dive and tried to keep it going all the way down. I think it was the first dive that hurt it.

I can equalise in both ears still - hopefully this is a good sign.

Are you sure you are doing Frenzel? I am asking because of your previous question on how much pressure to use at depth.

Do you remember at which depth you felt the pain? Was it around 6-7m?

 

[Ms Mer]

Are you sure you are doing Frenzel? I am asking because of your previous question on how much pressure to use at depth.

Do you remember at which depth you felt the pain? Was it around 6-7m?

I'm not 100% sure I am doing it properly. Yes it would have been about 6-7m. The line was set at 12m and I never managed that depth. I don't yet have a dive watch so I could not tell how far I went down but I am pretty confident that it was past 5m. The reason I say that is that i have done some training in a 5m dive well and had no problem going to the bottom at that depth. So, I figure that I must have gone deeper than that. The vis was not great in the sea and I could not see the orange dive plate. I think I would have had to have got to at least 10 or 11m to have seen it.

 

[Simos]

You are probably doing (or trying to do) valsava. Dont worry it just takes some time to get it, the stress of depth alone at first is enough to cause EQ trouble, let alone the other factors.

Apart from that my advice would be:

- always pre-equalise at surface
- pay a lot of attention in the first 2-3m and equalise often. If you feel the pain around 6-7m, you missed equalisations from the first few metres.
- Abort the dive at the first sign of a missed equalisation, don't wait for pain
- never blow hard. Blowing harder only makes equalisation harder and can cause you permanent damage.
- don't do aggressive duck dives at first. Go slower and make sure you equalise During the duck dive
- check your posture, keep back straight, head neutral (don't look down) and shoulders relaxed
- do jaw and neck stretches before diving
- avoid line diving if possible and practice descending at a gentler angle and gradually make it steeper. If on line, try descending slowly feet first
- do lots of dry exercises to strengthen the e-tube muscles. Do these several times every day, just make it a habit
-

 

[Ms Mer]

- Abort the dive at the first sign of a missed equalisation, don't wait for pain
- avoid line diving if possible and practice descending at a gentler angle and gradually make it steeper. If on line, try descending slowly feet first
- do lots of dry exercises to strengthen the e-tube muscles. Do these several times every day, just make it a habit
-

Thanks Simos.
What are the signs of a missed equalisation before the sign of pain?

As the vis is not great here they tend to line dive in depth training. I think it is more for safety of the diver and also the safety diver coming down to meet them. Once I start back I'll do some feet first dives to ease back into it and will just do some very shallow dives of no more than 5m to make sure I am doing everything correctly. I'll practice with Eric Fattah's frenzel document.

What other dry exercises are there for the e-tubes? Just those jaw ones you mention?

 

[Simos]

Thanks Simos.
What are the signs of a missed equalisation before the sign of pain?

As the vis is not great here they tend to line dive in depth training. I think it is more for safety of the diver and also the safety diver coming down to meet them. Once I start back I'll do some feet first dives to ease back into it and will just do some very shallow dives of no more than 5m to make sure I am doing everything correctly. I'll practice with Eric Fattah's frenzel document.

What other dry exercises are there for the e-tubes? Just those jaw ones you mention?

Well it depends but a few signs I used to get:

- NOT hear/feel the signs of a successful EQ in one pr both ear (eg pop, air going in, pressure relieved)

- pressure starting to build up. I think I had fairly flexible ear drums so I could ride them quite a bit but I was always feeling 'pressure' building up for a few metres before it was turning to pain

- turn at first sign of pain. Most of the time you know but you end up spending ages trying to fix things and equalise so that you can continue but it's pointless, once you feel the pain it's too late 99% of the time I would say

We had the same here with bad via etc but what I used to sometimes do (which others found funny) was to start 5-6 metres from the line and dive at say 60 degrees angle until I meet the line, then ascent on the line. Worth trying - in my case oddly if I did this and at the same looked up a bit my Thanks for coming yesterday and for Theo's present dude, was great to see youears would clear but looking up is a bad habit in many ways so I wouldn't recommend it.

Experiment a bit with different face movements to find out what opws your e-tube muscles. If you find out, it should be easier to learn to control the muscles more consciously