Back pain and diving

[adstaa]

Does anyone suffer from a bad back/back pain and dive? How do you go about shifting your gear etc..? Do you find you are better or worse after a dive?

I suffer from chronic back pain and it has kept me out of the water for abour the last 6 months. I'm fine in the water but out of the water is a different story. I want to get back in the water but i'm looking for ways to minimise the pain of getting in and out.

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[DandyDon]

Two suggestions:

1 - Talk with the boat operator in advance, explain this, and that you will want to don your bc & tank in the water as well as take it off there - with their young mates handling it for you. Expect to tip well for this. This is obvious, but I've seen it missed: If you wear a weight belt, it goes on last, comes off first.

2 - See a Pain Specialist. My brothers pain meds were not working well when he went thru extreme cancer treatments, but the Pain specialist fixed that.

 

[TSandM]

I have had some back problems for about ten years.

I found they got worse when I was using a BC with integrated weights. The more weight I hung off my shoulders, the more back pain I had. Moving some weight to a belt helped.

I also found that, if I didn't have the tank positioned properly, I got back pain WHILE I was diving -- I had to arch my back too much underwater.

I try not to put my gear on the ground where I will have to pick it up -- use tailgates or picnic tables or anything I can find to keep the gear UP until I put it on. Again, separating the weight into two packages helps. My BC with weights was really hard on me to move.

I'm also lucky because I generally don't have long distances to walk in my gear before entering the water. Surface swimming to the closest exit point to your car is a great way to go, too.

 

[Snowbear]

My back will hurt whether I dive or not.... so I dive.

I actually mostly find relief from pain during the dive, but getting out of the water is a bit painful since the heavy gear is compressing my spine.

Putting gear on and taking it off in the water eliminates that loading, but the problem is finding a buddy willing to lug it to and from the water.... not to mention the unwillingness to ask.

 

[Wildcard]

Your bad back comes from hauling realy fat people up and down stairs and out of burning buildings there Snowbear. Like mine.... My GF has the "too much weight on her shoulders" problem also. Going back to a weight belt for her for shore dives. On the long hikes I put one tank on each shoulder and grin and bear it then tank up at the water. Also looking at a backpack type hip belt on a BP/W.
Only easy way out is just to do boat dives.

 

[ishbaby]

I usually feel these backpains when the gravity of the weights and the tank arches my back too much when finning forward. I try to avoid this by doing different positions, finning sideways, backwards, doing the frog kick.

 

[miketsp]

I have had some back problems for about ten years.

I found they got worse when I was using a BC with integrated weights. The more weight I hung off my shoulders, the more back pain I had. Moving some weight to a belt helped.
..snip..

From the above phrase I take it you were walking around with this weight out of the water.
My recommendation would be to go weight integrated, only do boat dives and equip and unequip in the water. Let the boat crew set up your gear (you just check it) and move it around.
That's what my wife and most of my friends that have back problems do.

 

[ReneeC]

I've been having major lower back pain for the last couple years. Started to interfere with my comfort when diving so I went to my primary care physician and demanded answers. Took a year and four doctors, two physical therapists, numerous xrays, and MRIs but finally Friday I go in to try epidural injections for a herniated and a fused disk. Got my fingers crossed.

One thing I learned during the process through physical therapy sessions was that while I THOUGHT I was keeping my back well exercised I wasn't. I do much better now adding proper exercise and stretching into my routine.

The point here is that all the above suggestions are good but the answer really is to find out what is causing your pain and try to correct or minimize it out of the water. Good possibility is that you are not doing proper back strenthening exercises. And don't just look at the standard exercises - better to find a good PT that will be able to focus on your individual area of pain and the exercises needed to correct the strenth in that area.

 

[the_cat_keeper]

I used to have back pain (not very severe, just a dull ache) but when I started practising yoga, I found that my posture improved, my back strengthened and the pain gradually disappeared. Took 3 years.

 

[TSandM]

Yes, I forgot to mention that my back pain got MUCH less bothersome after about six months of doing Pilates. Strengthening the muscles that support the trunk really made a difference.