Tips for staying pain free on long dives, have arthritis in lower back

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cathal

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Location
Ireland
# of dives
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Lower back has been getting increasingly sore once I go past an hour in the water holding trim. I have arthritis in the lower back from an injury years ago. I'm diving a rEvo. Grateful for any tips on how to manage this and be able to hold trim pain free for prolonged periods, max 4 hours or so. I'm currently experimenting with exercise, stretching, NSAID's. Am I missing anything?

Much obliged

Cathal
 
Should have mentioned I do a lot of core work about 5 days a week and I dive a rEvo.
 
While perfect trim is nice, it's certainly not worth the pain or missing out on dives. Id say get your butt down a little so you don't have to arch so much to see in front.

It's much easier for me to arch farther in sm, but not so much in my breather/plate. So I'm pretty happy with my less than perfect trim.
 
Until I saw the rEvo comment, I was going to suggest sidemount as it is easier on the back and properly done does not require any arching to maintain trim. It is more comfortable and I have no issues on 5-6 hour dives in sidemount with a Sidekick. If you can't figure something else out you might want to consider a Sidekick or maybe the sidemount variant of the SF2
 
I find Icy Hot with Lidocaine to be magic. My knees love it.
 
I assume that diving a rEvo is the same as diving with a weight integrated BC which raises the issue of how you're taking care of your spine prior to water entry. I also have a lower back problem and this is why I DON'T use a weight integrated BC in order to reduce the weight my column has to support when fully equipped standing on the boat. I allow my weight belt to descend slightly onto my hips so this weight is not on my column.
My wife has a different problem and prefers to use a weight integrated setup but only gets equipped sitting down at the platform and then does a side entry. On return to the boat she removes the BC in the water before climbing the ladder. This also reduces wear and tear on the lower column.
 
...I remember one buddy who was already a bit older- we had some great dives together- both on rEvos. He had a similar problem and helped me adjusting the harness correctly to avoid me developing such. One mistake I did at that time was having the unit hanging much to lose and then adjusting the belts in water. (I however changed my drysuit to avoid having the inflator right under the breast belt)

The trick that time that made a huge difference was to really tight the shoulder strap when sitting during or after your pre-breathe so the unit comes to rest comparable high. From there (as soon as in water) the cheeseboard does the magic when pulled out.

Another difference in trim comes from the positioning of the BO. After having fixed a butplate, I used 6mm bungeecords which I fixed to the holes in the BCD unit behind each shoulder. After having completed my bubblecheck, I am pulling out those and sling it around the BO tank valves to keep them streamlined under the armpits. This trick worked for me since submatix-times and eases the back-rotation you unvoluntary do with a free-hanging BO.

With the bungee cords:

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With no bungees:

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Have searched my pictures to illustrate the difference for you. Hope this may help you a little.
 

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...I remember one buddy who was already a bit older- we had some great dives together- both on rEvos. He had a similar problem and helped me adjusting the harness correctly to avoid me developing such. One mistake I did at that time was having the unit hanging much to lose and then adjusting the belts in water. (I however changed my drysuit to avoid having the inflator right under the breast belt)

The trick that time that made a huge difference was to really tight the shoulder strap when sitting during or after your pre-breathe so the unit comes to rest comparable high. From there (as soon as in water) the cheeseboard does the magic when pulled out.

Another difference in trim comes from the positioning of the BO. After having fixed a butplate, I used 6mm bungeecords which I fixed to the holes in the BCD unit behind each shoulder. After having completed my bubblecheck, I am pulling out those and sling it around the BO tank valves to keep them streamlined under the armpits. This trick worked for me since submatix-times and eases the back-rotation you unvoluntary do with a free-hanging BO.

With the bungee cords:

View attachment 459719

With no bungees:

View attachment 459720

Have searched my pictures to illustrate the difference for you. Hope this may help you a little.
Much obliged, I use the bungee system alright but thanks anyways and I will try tightening up the harness. Can I ask did you ever have any problems during deco with a tight harness.

Regards

Cathal
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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