What I forgot to tell. Before I went to this to yesterday I called Dan. I got the number here in the forum so thanks again. The woman was pretty friendly and I told her my story. She also said the ent doesn't make a professional impression and I need 2ne opinion from a diving ent. But she said that without looking in my ears the most likely case is a middle ear barotrauma which is no reason to not dive again. Depending on how mild it takes 4 weeks - 12 month break she said. So she said the same as the docor went to yesterday
Ear problem, Tinnitus & Buzzing - Never Diving Again
- Thread starter Oezkan
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
Yes, it is in the OW manual, along with a couple of other techniques. What I meant was it is not in the instructor materials. But what IS in the instructor materials is to teach more than one technique.
You stated:
I just showed you where the Vasalva manuever is taught/promoted.
The issue is, no one should be teaching the Vasalva manuever at all. I don't have access to every WRSTC member's OW materials, but I'd be willing to bet that most, if not all, do.
Don't take it so personally that PADI does this, as they are not alone.
Chill.
I don't like Valsalva either.
It is NOT in the PADI OW IM. You are supposed to instruct several methods.
I'm sorry, but mentioning it, along with two other methods, in the OW manual, is not promoting it. It works for some people, just not everyone.
Chill.
You still are missing the point. Vasalva should never be mentioned by anyone. Period. I've seen it in PADI, RAID, SSI, and SDI materials. They all need to remove it all together. And of course it is promoting it, especially when listing it first. Even my good friend Marcel, a platinum CD, mentioned here: Four Tips on How to Equalize Your Ears • Scuba Diver Life that it is the "easiest" and "most common." Why is it the most common? Because instructors across all agencies are teaching it.
If I haven't made myself clear, all instructors across all agencies need to stop. It is utter BS that PADI, SSI, SDI, RAID, are not promoting the use of the Vasalva manuever.
I wonder if I'm writing in tongues, not English.
We have used the Vasalva method for 35 years now. Always has worked fine.
From DAN: https://dan.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/smartguide_ears_2017_lores.pdf
But the Valsalva maneuver has three problems:
1 It does not activate muscles which open the Eustachian tubes, so it may not work if the tubes are already locked by a pressure differential.
2 It's too easy to blow hard enough to damage something.
3 Blowing against a blocked nose raises your internal fluid pressure, including the fluid pressure in your inner ear, which may rupture your "round windows."
So don't blow too hard, and don't maintain pressure for more than five seconds.
I don't know how to quantify what "too hard means." "Oh, you blew your ear drum, that was too hard." Too little, too late.
For you.
I have seen in my career a large number of medical problems triggered by bad equalization, and most of them occurred using Valsalva. The other techniques are both more effective opening the tubes and more gentle avoiding barothraumas...
In my diving manual, written by Duilio Marcante in 1973, the Valsalva method was clearly explained and discussed, the related risks were exposed clearly, and the final warning was that it was an obsolete method (in 1973!) and it was to be avoided.
People already used to it before beginning the diving course needed to be de-trained, and re-trained using better methods.
Similar threads
