All this time, I've been doing it wrong - equalizing.

[lavachickie]

OW certified in 2009, then AOW, Nitrox, and Rescue. Almost 200 dives in cold and warm waters. I consider myself a reliably functional recreational diver.

And last week, I realized I'd been poorly equalizing for all this time. While I feel quite stupid, I thought perhaps sharing will help someone else.

For the first year or two that I dove, to be frank, equalization just happened. It didn't take a lot of attention, effort or technique; I'd wiggle my jaw, or do the "pre-yawn" move to open my eustachian tubes and there would be no trouble, even on fast descents.

After a few years, however, I noticed things became difficult. I've always struggle with sinus issues (seems every season contains something I'm sensitive to), but never dove when symptomatic. I also noted that many other divers stated as they got older, they encountered more issues with equalizing.

Descent became more of a chore, something I'd have to do slowly, lots of up/down, and frankly, discomfort. The result would be "stuffy ears" during every dive trip starting with the first dive. After diving, mild headaches would be common. The first day of diving almost always resulted in a little blood in my mask.

I few years ago, I visited an ENT who is also a diver after one such trip; exam showed a little "cupping" of the eardrum, and an MRI of the sinuses was normal. "Not sure what's going on; you might have a bit of a reverse squeeze, no reason for concern." No advice or suggestion for change given. This was also an issue I discussed with other divers, who often agreed they had similar experiences.

I recall that when things started to get difficult, I was attempting to valsalva, and it HURT. As a result, I was very reticent to do it, thinking for some reason it didn't "work" for me.

Diving last week in warm tropical waters, equalizing was more difficult than it had ever been. Talking with people on my boat last week, something clicked -- not even sure why. But I realized that I was waiting too long to start taking steps to equalize. So I started valsalva-ing at the surface, and then gently about every two feet. I felt/heard it work. Without pain. Descent was easy -- and on later dives when I did experience an issue, rising a few feet and being more aggressive resolved the issue, again pain free.

OH! SO THIS IS WHAT I SHOULD HAVE BEEN DOING THE LAST SEVEN YEARS.

I now realize almost every dive I've done since the difficulties began (around dive 70) has resulted in middle ear barotrauma -- fluid trapped in the middle ear, causing the muffled hearing, etc. It's horrifying to realize that.

 

[Peter69_56]

Thank you for sharing, as some would not as they might feel embarrassed. Often we assume everyone knows how to do the simple things, not realising they may never have been taught properly to begin with. This may help others with similar issues. Glad you resolved it and now its not a chore.

Rule 1; Never assume.

 

[Fogest]

Thank you for sharing, as some would not as they might feel embarrassed. Often we assume everyone knows how to do the simple things, not realising they may never have been taught properly to begin with. This may help others with similar issues. Glad you resolved it and now its not a chore.

Rule 1; Never assume.

Even being taught it sometimes isn't enough. I was having problems equalizing when going through my pool sessions for OW and I had been taught how to properly equalize and was even told it was easier to do it often and before I started to feel the pressure on my ears. However despite this I still couldn't equalize in one ear while in the pool.

I posted a thread on Scubaboard and got some advice. I tried some new things in the pool and eventually realized that I was just waiting too long in the pool to equalize. I was also listening for the wrong noise from equalizing. I was trying to accomplish a louder pop, but this louder noise was the noise that was happening when I let more pressure build up from going deeper. This is not the noise I wanted, but a more subtle one. I realized both of these aspects in the pool.

My training was helpful because it made me understand that I should not be having this kind of trouble equalizing as I was confirmed by a doctor that my ears have no issues. So that led me to look at my technique.

The thing that is hard is that in training you can't really be taught exactly when to equalize at, or what kind of sound/feeling you should get on successfully equalizing. So I thought I was doing things right, but I wasn't.

 

[rhwestfall]

early and often....

something you need to stay ahead of. If you wait to the "pain", it's going to not come out well...

 

[lavachickie]

To be fair, the information was presented in training. I knew it. I repeated it to others. But I myself didn't need to use it. I re-read it when researching off an on over the years, but by then my own habit of waiting too long was ingrained.

The fact pattern of my experience was what prolonged the problem, and just led me down the wrong road. Of course, that fateful painful valsalva was performed WAY too late in the process, hence the pain. But it made me LESS likely to do it from that point forward.

If I could go back to my former self, I would reinforce that proper equalization does not hurt. If it hurts, you're doing it wrong. (DUH.) Equalization is a proactive activity, and not a reactive one.

 

[drbill]

I've been fortunate over 54 years of diving... equalization has almost always been automatic without any effort. Maybe it's just the holes in my head?

 

[miked]

I learned to start equalizing, gently, even before entering the water. While heading towards the dive platform.The theory being (so I was told) that you "preload" the ears/Eustachian tubes to make things easier on descent. You still will need to equalize as you head down, but with this you have a bit of a head start.

 

[IVC]

In a way, I was "lucky" to have had a problem on my first OW dive where I stopped and pointed to my instructor that I had an ear problem, so I had to do Valsalva couple times in a row at a shallow depth. For the rest of the dive the ear bugged me, but the initial stop made me realize that equalizing on *every* breath is an easy and continuous way to keep ears properly pressurized.

After the initial dive, I started doing light Valsalva at the beginning of every exhale and it works really well.

 

[tursiops]

I find the Valsalva not very effective, and much prefer the Toynbee or Frenzel. In my teaching experience, Valsalva is not all that popular.

 

[guruboy]

11 Tips For Easy Equalizing