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Throat crush

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.

ivan

looking for deeper water
Jan 26, 2002
1,503
48
0
hi

I just noticed something that has come of interest to me the last few times I have dived. When I take kinda a 80% breath Im finding that something in my throat (I think its called the Trachea) starts to crush or something.

It feels really scary and happens most often when Im nearing the bottom at 20metres ish and I look forward to see where Im going that's when it happens most. I guess it has something to do with my habit of looking forward as I get near the bottom ( If I dont look forward I will headbutt the coral) or maybe my lungs have no air in them :hmm

Anyone got any suggestions about how can I avoid or make it happen later on in a dive :)

cheers
 
you probably know this but when you look forward your body is wasting more oxygen. Try to avoid this. About the throat I don't know what you mean, sorry...
 
hi

Yeah like I said I only look forward to see where the bottom is cos i dont dive up and down a rope and the bottom is 20m ish

cheers
 
Tale.

I dont believe in the throat crushing at depth. Not enough to hurt anyhow. Try it now. With your fingers. The trachea is rigid and hard and it hurts properly when you try push hard. You dont feel this underwater. Its probably your inner windpipe being vaccumed by shrinking air in your lungs and this pulling feeling worries you. When you stretch you neck out to look down it stretches your windpipe more exaggerating feeling of the sucking effect.

Solution. Always dive with full lungs and only glance down from time to time.

Skin.
 
throaty business

I discovered this not too long ago and recieved some excellent advice from a mate of mine Simon Reid.
Apparently as you dive your trachea collapses and a bit of a panic ensues. Here is the way to beat it- before you get to the depth at which this happens you should start to make a humming noise in your throat and therefore filling your cheeks with air. It is hard to describe, but easy to do.
When you do this you will have air in your cheeks to equalise with:) I think that the more diving you do the deeper the trachea collapse begins- at least I have found it to occur later.
Try it out aand let me know if it works.
Dave
 
andrew,

i think what you're experiencing is the result of not having any air in your pharynx... which results in the tongue pressing hard against the back of your throat and soft palate. i can see how this could be interpreted as your throat crushing. that's my guess anyway...

the answer is exactly what daveking just said... mouthfill technique. you don't need to do a full mouthfill - bulging cheeks job. just enough to get you to your target depth. you can find a tutorial on Eric's freediving webpage - www.ericfattah.com

you can still get that problem of having no air in your pharynx even after filling your cheeks... if you don't do it correctly. what can happen is that your tongue creates two separate airspaces by sealing against the soft palate. if this happens, you'll eventually run out of air in your pharynx and fail to equalise despite having loads of air in the front of your mouth. you have to learn to position your tongue so that doesn't happen.

happy equalising! :)
 
hi

Thanks for the advice guys.

I thought the answer to this problem would be to learn that mouthfill technique. I have read it many times and still dont understand how to do it properly. I can do the humming thing and fill my cheeks with air but once that airs in my mouth I dont know how to get that to my ears :duh

When I do normal equalising it is sucking air out of my lungs naturally so how do you make your body do the same except take the air from the mouth.

cheers
 
hi

Thanks for the advice guys.

I thought the answer to this problem would be to learn that mouthfill technique. I have read it many times and still dont understand how to do it properly. I can do the humming thing and fill my cheeks with air but once that airs in my mouth I dont know how to get that to my ears :duh

When I do normal equalising it is sucking air out of my lungs naturally so how do you make your body do the same except take the air from the mouth.

cheers
 
It sounds like you first need to master Frenzel eq. The tongue is used as a piston to eq. After you learn that, you can try the mouthfill. As far as the throat crush I was experiencing it a few weeks back around 110'. After a number of great people on this board told me it was mostly anxiety, it has lessened to the point where it is barely noticeable and no longer incredibly uncomfortable.
Jim
 
hi

Jim so you are saying that you can use your tongue to equalise normally from your lungs, or do you have to have your mouth filled with air to use your tongue.

cheers
 
Andrew-
What I am doing is the Frenzel technique. It allows one to eq. with very little pressure. Eric explains the whole process much better than I can. Go to his web site www.ericfattah.com and slowly read through the text. Its a great piece of work that should answer all your questions.
Jim
 
hi

Jim I just read through Erics document again but this time I went slower and KINDA understood some of the stuff. I think I can do the part where you hold your nose close and keep yor mouth closed exhale until my cheeks are full then I move my tongue to the roof of my mouth just behind my front teeth and kinda rub my tongue along the roof of my mouth and sometimes I can kinda feel a light popping noise. So maybe its slowly working.

cheers

Ps Still confuse about how to use the epiglottis, and sof palate.
 
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