excessive practice clearing mask make ears sore?

[LollyO]

I have read a million posts on how to clear your mask. I have read tons of articles. watched You tube,tips and techniques.,etc. I (like a ton of other folks did it well the first couple of times) and then start having problems later (for me...after a few times I cant make my breath come totally out my nose. (I have tried placing my tongue in every sq cm of the roof of my mouth) I just have problems consistently directing the air out my nose. I will do it right the first time or two and then I start loosing the discernment. I actually can't tell if it is coming out my nose or my mouth. until I realized I have failed or partly failed.

Yesterday in the 4 feet section of my sister's pool, I practiced clearing my mask probably at least 100 times of which I was successful maybe half the time.

1. I would go under, with my snorkel staying above the water,
2. 100% fill my mask. I can sit with my mask full of water and breath thru my snorkel all day so this is not a problem.
3. take a few breath thru the snorkel, not trying yet to clear my mask
4. fill my lungs deeply with air
5. while lungs still filled with air, press tongue in the roof of my mouth (I have found it more effective to put it close to the front near my teeth)
6. gently press only the top of my mask skirt
7. try to blow air out only thru my nose,

Sometimes I am successfull, sometimes I am not. Sometimes I could do in multiple times in a row without coming up. Other times I could never produce enough air to clear the mask and would end up coming up and resting for a minute.

But last night and today my inner ears feel swollen and raw ...not really pain,,,yet. My first question is " Can clearing your mask for 2 straight hours cause this?

This is exactly how I started July 4th and had to suspend my scuba lessons because the swollen ear feel turned into pain and swollen glands. Now I am ready to try again, but do not want to go down that path again.

with my head barely under the water I never had a need to clear my ears....so clearing my ears is not a factor in my ear soreness.

Thanks for any and all help.

 

[stairman]

Ive never heard of anyone not being able to clear a mask if they could stand it flooded and you say you can. Unless they have a cold maybe and the nose is stuffed up. It does work best if your looking straight ahead instead of downward like when snorkeling. Alot of practicing this may have irritated your ears to make them sore. And the pool water may have been the culprit. Ear Beer is your friend in all cases. Ive read where people, even dive docs have said it will not help once an infection or irritation is present and while I cant speak for them I know for me it does help. If I start feeling any ear pain, itching or any unnatural feeling in my ears diving or not I treat them and it always goes away everytime.

 

[DevonDiver]

Sounds to me like you have some congestion or blockage and the act of forcefully exhaling from your nose is also pushing air into your middle ear.

Maybe refer to an ENT specialist to check out your nose/sinuses?

 

[tstalcup]

I doubt that two hours of mask clearing with proper technique would cause problems - basically you just breathe out through your nose which you (presumeably) do all the time. However, since you're having problems I wouldn't be surprised if you are more forceful than you should be or possibly other issues which could cause irritation.

That said, I admit I'm a bit confused about what you say for your tongue placement. I know everyone's anatomy is slightly different, but I don't put my tongue on the roof of my mouth at all. I raise the back of my tongue to close off my throat without moving the front part. I'll admit I'd never thought about that before now.

Sounds odd now that I type it, but you don't have to be in a pool to practice this. It sounds like if you get this down you'll have no trouble clearing your mask.

So, a few thoughts for dry land practice:
1. Think about how you eat - you probably don't even think about it, but I bet you can breathe through your nose while you take a bite without blowing food out of your mouth, right?
2. Try putting some water in your mouth, then with your mouth open tilt your head back. You should be able to keep the water in your mouth and still breathe at the same time.

Both of those things require the skill you're looking for. Just don't drown trying #2 sitting at the table!

I'll trade you problems - I tend to leak a little air through my nose when I breathe through my mouth. Makes it hard to breathe underwater with a flooded mask.

 

[stairman]

I once watched a documentary of Navy Seals in training. One of the guys could not breathe thru his reg with his mask removed underwater. He didnt make the cut and it was determined thru x-rays that it was phisically impossible for him to accomplish this because of the way his sinuses were formed at birth. Its rare but some unfortunatly have the problem. I know some who cant clear their ears and cant dive. Bummer!

 

[charlesg3]

I believe there is a valve in the back of your throat that controls whether air goes through your nose or mouth so tongue placement shouldn't have much of an effect. In fact, I can breathe only through my nose with my tongue sticking straight out. However, it may help psychologically.

I'll trade you problems - I tend to leak a little air through my nose when I breathe through my mouth. Makes it hard to breathe underwater with a flooded mask.

tsalcup... I breathe through my nose a bit when diving but it isn't really a problem. It generally is only when I exhale and results in preventing mask squeeze and no water gets in as the bubbles exit out of the bottom of the mask. YMMV.