Problem with equalisation upside down

[_Andy_]

I can't manage to equalise at all when I'm upside down. I can't even do it on land so the problem isn't me being stressed/tensed due to being head down in the water. When I try to do the Valsalva nothing happens. I've also tried wiggling my jaw, swallowing and so on but nothing helps. Can't really get Frenzel right so I haven't tried that yet but I doubt it will make a difference.

Thoughts?

 

[mortenkv]

To what angle can you equalise?

Try lying on your belly on a table with your uppr body hanging down. Now try to find in what angle to vertical you can eq upside down. Try working on that specifik angle where your eq fails. (a trick I learned from Linda in Dahab)

My girlfriend has the same problem and it has helped her a lot to do such - but she still needs a lot of work to be "free".

Keep working,
Morten

 

[_Andy_]

To what angle can you equalise?

Pretty much to the point when I'm horizontal.

Try lying on your belly on a table with your uppr body hanging down. Now try to find in what angle to vertical you can eq upside down. Try working on that specifik angle where your eq fails. (a trick I learned from Linda in Dahab)


Keep working,
Morten

I'll try that. Thank you!

 

[_Andy_]

Been doing this every day for almost three weeks now but unfortunately I've made no improvement what so ever.

Any other ideas?

 

[azapa]

Equalization is one of those things that really does get easier with practice and time. Time in the water makes you more relaxed, being relaxed is one of the secrets of equalization. Be easy on your self and better small goals at a time.

How far down can you get before you can't equalize anymore?

 

[_Andy_]

With my head down? I can't even do it on land. At all.

 

[azapa]

have you ever tried with anyone else watching you? you may be making some fundamental mistake. I would put money on the fact that a freediving course would have you cruising around down bellow in a couple of days.

I believe Eric Fattah once wrote here that from thousands of cases of people who supposedly could not equalize that he had seen all of them could be taught to do so easily.

Study this and please watch the long video embedded in the page:
Doc's Diving Medicine Home Page

 

[budleigh spearo]

watched that video and i advise any1 not sure about equalizing to watch really interesting

 

[cubapnea]

i'am having the same problem with a good buddy of mine that i'm introducing to spearfishing and freediving... i feel bad because he puts his all into freediving and no matter what he does he can't get pass 15 ft .. the look on his face when he returns to surface is of frustration...i believe it's got something to do being upside down ... i was about to post a thread about this and then i run into this one... please educate me so i can help him

 

[budleigh spearo]

if you think it is cause hes upside down tell him to stop half way nd turn the right way up and see if he can equalise. i used to have problems and what i eventually found out was all i had to do was take my mask out and clear flem from my nose tat seems to build up that may doitworks every time for me

 

[cubapnea]

he tells me he pinch his nose and blows right after inmersion... but nothing happens then pain sets in and after that nothing works for him... outside the water when he pinch his nose and blows he feels the '' click'' on both ears.. i have never had prob when equalizing... but i must be a sorry instructor... i'm bummed


my apologies to the guy that started the thread for getting in the middle but i felt their both in the same page... so i tought useless to start a new thread about the same topic .

i hope somebody comes with a practical solution meanwhile i won't give up on my buddy as he strong wishes to enjoy the pleasures of freediving.

 

[_Andy_]

have you ever tried with anyone else watching you? you may be making some fundamental mistake. I would put money on the fact that a freediving course would have you cruising around down bellow in a couple of days.

I believe Eric Fattah once wrote here that from thousands of cases of people who supposedly could not equalize that he had seen all of them could be taught to do so easily.

Study this and please watch the long video embedded in the page:
Doc's Diving Medicine Home Page

Actually I've already taken a freediving course and I got some tips from the instructor but the problem still remains.

When my go feet down I have no problem with my eq. I've been 30m down with tanks and 23m down holding my breath. So the problem is only with my head down. I've been hanging upside down in the gym and at home trying every single thing I can think of but nothing happens when i try to equalise. My instructor's theory was that I wasn't relaxed enough but I don't think that is the case since the last couple of times I've been so relaxed I'm almost falling asleep.

Thank you for the video! I've watched it once before but I'll take a look at it again

 

[lungfish]

Puzzling. I get students from time to time like this. I have had success by having them swim at an angle just below horizontal and I have had them go down a line feet first while equalizing... And a few of them just can't seem to do it.
I don't know if its a matter of body awareness and the ability to isolate gas, control the larynx, or if there is some physical anomaly. I tend to think its experience in the body, experience in the water but I feel for ya, buddy.
If it helps, you must release the larynx to allow gas from the lungs to get to the sinuses so you want to open your throat and move gas to your cheeks, then try a manual. Try all of this on a float and line, its easier to focus and just do a pull down to where you can feel the need...

 

[CCtrader]

I had the same problem, and i managed to solve it.

The problem is that when i was inverted, i tried to exhale to equalize and nothing happened. So i few years ago i was snorkling in Maldives and did something different.

The exercise was the following:

You dive and pinch the nose and blow...If nothing happens, then try to invert the direction of the air, like if you were trying to inhale, you will notice that the ears pop. This is sufficient to equalize normal after that.

i managed to solve my problem, and after one week or two, i started to equalize only by swelling...

 

[_Andy_]

Thank you CCtrader. I don't think I've tried that so it's most definitely on my to do list.

 

[Phil C]

Hi there Andy,

I used to suffer from the same thing. Could equalise head up but not head down. My research seemed to indicate that the difficulty is related to soft tissue around the opening of the E tube opening making inverted equalisation more difficult in some people.

The solution I found was to learn how to Frenzel. Inverted equalising is much easier now. Do a search on DB, check what method you are using, if it is the valsalva switch to Frenzel. You should find lots of threads on on DB.
Phil

 

[Zeuser]

I had the same problem but solved it by carefully examining what i was doing.

While going upside down I was looking at the direction I was going (straight to the bottom). The trouble is that my neck was stretched out. put it another way: If you had flipped me over it would've been like I was looking above my head, not straight out in front of my chest.

I'll try a little ASCII drawing. Imagine that's me going straight down with my legs spread apart.

I was doing this:

\/
|
o

|
\/ Looking down

I should've been doing this:

\/
|
o -> Looking straight in front

I think that stretching my neck to look above me was preventing me from equalizing. Probably blocking those tubes.

 

[azapa]

I had the same problem but solved it by carefully examining what i was doing.

While going upside down I was looking at the direction I was going (straight to the bottom). The trouble is that my neck was stretched out. put it another way: If you had flipped me over it would've been like I was looking above my head, not straight out in front of my chest.

I'll try a little ASCII drawing. Imagine that's me going straight down with my legs spread apart.

I was doing this:


o

|
/ Looking down

I should've been doing this:

/
|
o -> Looking straight in front

I think that stretching my neck to look above me was preventing me from equalizing. Probably blocking those tubes.

indeed a classic problem, thanks for mentioning.

You should be looking out into the blue, not down. Some even say tuck chin in to chest, but personally this is too much.

on a long shot, close your eyes. if you know the bottom is a long way down closing the eyes give you nothing to strain to look at and helps you relax (does me anyway).

at a certain depth (way past failure depth) a peak down, with the extension of head, and you will loose your mouthfill. Knowing the depth and setting a depth alarm (that you can actually hear, no too many of those around) will allow the eyes closed approach for longer, or at least not to be peeking out for the bottom.

If you are a spearo, you probably dive quite often at a certain depth, counting finstrokes is another great way to decide when to peek for the bottom.

try:
duck dive
close eyes, head in neutral position
5 powerful but smooth kicks
5 weak kicks
freefall 10 seconds
peek for bottom (you should be at 20m or so by now)

 

[pdabill]

Andy, I have been struggling with the same problem for quite some time. I have made a little progress though. One strange thing I noticed for me is that when I am freediving on a line and a full wetsuit with hood (Yazbeck) I cannot equalize while totally inverted. I have made progress by gradually increasing the angle I am pointing downward, but I am not to the point where I can actually kick to make progress down along the line. I am stuck doing pull downs. Strangely enough I have discovered that when I am not wearing a wetsuit or hood, just a swimsuit and maybe a rash guard (while spearfishing) I can equalize inverted! It's almost as if the wetsuit and hood are constricting something on me that is not allowing me to equalize inverted. I am also doing %100 valsalva all of the time. I am convinced that Frenzel will completely fix my problem, I just cannot seem to figure out that equalization technique after hours and hours of trying....

 

[haughki]

One strange thing I noticed for me is that when I am freediving on a line and a full wetsuit with hood (Yazbeck) I cannot equalize while totally inverted.

You might have tried this already, but if not: let your wetsuit dry out, and put it on. Have someone else mark on the outside of the suit where your "ear holes" are (i.e., where your ear canal actually enters into your head). Take off the wetsuit, get a thick paperclip and a lighter. Heat the clip till it's red hot, and _carefully_ poke it through the wetsuit where you marked. Make sure the wetsiut is dry before you do it, otherwise it takes forever. You may need to do it a few times. You just want to melt a tiny hole, hardly a millimeter in diameter; but, it needs to be a hole, not just poking a needle through the suit (that won't do anything).

Why? A tight-fitting wetsuit hood made of high quality neoprene can create a semi-rigid airspace between the hood and the outside of your eardrum. As you dive, this airspace can compress, sucking the hood into your ear canal, and sucking your eardrum out (towards the hood). It can wreak all kinds of havoc, even rupture the eardrum. A tiny hole in the hood allows the water to equalize through the hood and into your ear canal. Just make sure it's a very tiny hole: of course, you don't want cold water sloshing into your hood and ear.

Hawkeye Parker
San Francisco, CA