ear pain

Question
QUESTION: certifying for open water dive #4. ears took a beating equalizing this dive. Dive was this past Saturday ears still hurting a little, concern or not.

ANSWER: Hi Al, I am sorry to hear about your ear trouble after cert dive #4.  I want to first ensure you understand that I am not a medical doctor and cannot provide medical advice.  However, it should never be the case that your ears should 'take a beating' during ANY scuba dive.  If they are still hurting you should consider seeking medical attention and inform your instructor.  You should not be re-entering the water at all for dive 5 if they are still hurting.

Proper equalization starts at the surface before even going under water usually with the technique of pinching the nose and blowing gently to put outward pressure on the ear drums.  Every few feet (6 to 8) the procedure is repeated before any pain occurs in the ears.

If the ears begin to hurt as you descend, you should be ascending a few feet, equalizing, and then re-attempting to descend.

You should not be diving with any kind of sinus condition or congestion as this will interfere with equalization.  It is not recommended that you use decongestants to circumvent this issue.

Again, I suggest seeking proper medical attention to ensure that you have no significant ear damage before continuing to dive #5.  Your instructor should be informed of your ear issues as well.  Good luck, Jesse

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Although I practice the skill of racing to the surface and manually inflating the BCD I failed this skill on dive 4. Any advise?

Answer
Yes, Al.  This skill is the Controlled Emergency Swimming Ascent.  First of all, it is NOT a race to the surface.  It is still an ascent, which means you should be doing all of the things you would normally do upon any ascent.  The difference is that you are potentially in an out of air situation.  Most adults can make a CESA within 30 feet of the surface without holding their breath.

Your instructor, upon signaling you to perform this skill will be looking for the following:

- you should immediately take a final deep breath from your regulator
- you should keep the regulator in your mouth at all times
- you should grab your deflation hose and on the way to the surface, purge air from your BC just as you would a normal ascent
- you should take your right hand and place it on your weight belt release buckle, but do not release your weights.
- you should be kicking slowly toward the surface at a controlled ascent rate of 60 feet per minute
- you MUST be slowly exhaling through your regulator all the way to the surface (this is to ensure that you are not holding your breath)
- Upon reaching the surface you must immediately begin oral inflation of your BC for buoyancy (remember you are simulating out of air and you cannot use your power inflator button)

You should have practiced this skill in the pool already.  Your instructor will require that your perform all the above steps to pass this skill.  

My advice is to think about where your two hands should be upon starting this skill.  Then , be sure that you are slowly exhaling little bubbles all the way to the surface with your regulator in your mouth.  You can practice orally inflating your BC on the surface before you do any of the other steps if you need to.

You did not tell me why you failed this skill.  Your instructor, if he is a good one, should have explained to exactly what parts of this skill that you failed to perform correctly.

Best of luck, Jesse