Back pain while diving

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My back is miserable on land but I am fortunate it rarely bothers me in the water. As ColoDale said keeping your body in one position for any length of time can cause issues. Some moves to stretch can be subtle and can make a difference. Years of back exercises and back stretching have helped me with this and I have to remind myself underwater to relax the stiff areas and my breathing.

If you have space and can get away from the reef, wall and other divers go into a vertical position for a minute. Also good for checking your surroundings for larger animals.

The lotus position or pulling your knees to your chest. Good on safety stops especially if you have a mooring line. Moving your position a lot can mess with some peoples air consumption so sometimes smaller is better. If you find you are arching your back maybe try to practice pelvic tilts or something your doctor or PT recommends for your situation. Yoga is marvelous and you don't have to take classes. Picking out the best exercises that relieve your pain and doing them regularly can help you everywhere.

If there is a physical therapist in the picture ask if they have any advice for posture that can help. Depending on your height you might be stuck with the tank hitting you in a certain spot. If you can lower it a bit that could help straighten your back out. Just be sure it is tightened and well secured. Wet the strap and all of that.
 
I have a bulging disk and the “u” posture actually helps. I feel better after the dive. I would suggest trying a weight harness. I have a DUI harness for dry suit diving. It takes the weight off your hips and hangs it from your shoulders and doesn’t add mass to the tank like a back plate. A nice feature of that is the weight is supported by your back in a normal posture. Additionally, you can adjust the height of weights from low to high (diving dry my weights I keep my lead much lower than on my wetsuit).

I would talk to your PT about it, he may have some suggestions on stretches, exercises or ergonomics that might help.
 
I've had several back surgeries & fusions but still have constant chronic pain from it. Diving is now the only time it doesn't hurt, but it's taken some experimentation. My first BC didn't have much padding and the tank rested directly on my back and hurt. I switched to a Scubapro Lady Hawk which has more padding and keeps the tank at a better angle off my back. My husband's Scubapro Night Hawk does the same for him and he noticed an improvement in back pressure and he doesn't have a bad back. Weight integrated is the way to go for me and I always use the trim pockets for as much weight as possible so it puts it up higher. I put my bc on in the water, have gotten super fast at it. But when that's not possible like on drift dives, the boat operators will always bring it to me sitting on the back (certain boats like Newtons) and I just forward roll in. It makes a huge difference if you're doing multiple dives a day for several days or more to not have that weight directly pushing on my back. I also try to do a lot of stretching before dives and often go for a walk before the boat arrives to loosen it up. I like to pull my knees to my chest when possible and on safety stops, it helps. And watch that you're not arching your back during the dives. The advice about PT is absolutely right, do make it a priority and keep doing them and it'll pay off! I also wear a narrow 3" SI lumbar belt that my PT turned me on to using and it helps when I dive as well as above water when standing or walking a lot. For me no one thing does the trick, it's a lot of little things that incrementally add up to pain free diving. Good luck and don't give up diving! There are lots of things to try and everyone's different, so try what makes sense and see what helps.
 

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