Inverted descending hurts - why?

[scubafanatic]

Who said I felt 'compelled'? It was a question of why the pain occurs,not why one would descend like that. If you do need a reason however then back-rolling in negatively buoyant and trying to keep an eye on divers above you is one.

...yeah, but while you're looking upwards and diving downwards, that tank on your back becomes a potential heavy, sharp, metal projectile dropping down to possibly impact some diver beneath/behind you....so you're diving 'blind'....just sayin'

[fnfalman]

Hmmm...interesting. I'll try this descension out next time I go diving and see if I can equalize or not.

[piikki]

I always thought these positional difficulties were somewhat related to anatomical issues and one's eustachian tubes getting into personalized tizzies. You are lucky if yours only get painful when on your back as generally one does not need to descent on back. I tend to get equalization troubles when doing very stiff heads-down descents, especially in cold water when there is extra constriction going on. I need to be careful about the angle but then again I have tricky tubes anyway.

[InTheDrink]

I always thought these positional difficulties were somewhat related to anatomical issues and one's eustachian tubes getting into personalized tizzies. You are lucky if yours only get painful when on your back as generally one does not need to descent on back. I tend to get equalization troubles when doing very stiff heads-down descents, especially in cold water when there is extra constriction going on. I need to be careful about the angle but then again I have tricky tubes anyway.

I'm only replying cos of your avatar. My love of Jets is only mildly surpassed by my love of my kids and they're not teenagers yet at which point I expect the Jets to resume their natural position in the love chain. Anyhow...

I got to play with lots of negative entries in the last couple of weeks and my new conclusion is this: when negative and inverted clasp your nose on entry and blow gently all the way. Not sure why exactly this helps but my guess is that going in inverted that you can easily miss the first 3-5 metres (10 - 17 ft) of equalisation so use two hands on your face hold mask, reg and nose. This works doubly well as the reason you normally insert negative is because of strong surface current and using two hands on your face helps ensure mask/regs don't do a runner.

J