How to equalize a reverse squeeze?

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sourcearun

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In case of a reverse squeeze while ascending, what is the best way to equalize?
Are the equalizing techniques different for ear, sinus, abdomen (I am prone to bloating) and tooth discomfort?
Any advice would be gratefully accepted.
 
Ears/sinus- Ascend slowly, try moving head side to side and forward and back (stretch tubes to hopefully open), move jaw around, descent a little and then ascend slower.

abdomen - flatulate (sp), gas-x

tooth - dentist

Ben
 
You can pinch the nose closed and attempt to breathe in. Just the opposite of the method using for a regular squeeze on descent.

Richard
 
The reverse squeeze is often called a reverse block. The reason it is called a block is because, among other things, fluid in the sinuses can actually hold, or block, pressure inside of the sinuses and cause discomfort.

One of the best ways to handle this kind of blockage is to avoid it. If you are congested you may have more fluids runnin' about and as you decend you may experience some pain from pressure squeezing in on you. Pain is your bodies way of saying, "hey you, yeah you dumb dumb, quit it." If you push through this pain, ignoring you body's warning, you may force gas into some of these cavities and it may be blocked from exiting as you assend. The cavity will take some time to equalized after you have pushed things a little to far. This, if you haven't experienced it, can be very painful. So the moral of the story is to use and ounce of prevention...
 
Reverse block has been a terrible experience for me. The worse part for me personally is the trama. In my personal case the barotrama had to be respected and all future dives put on hold until the ear had completely recovered. In my case it takes months. It can ruin a season of diving. The things I have found to work are: Plan your ascent early so you will have enough time (gas in the tank) to deal with the problem if it arises / Start "popping your ear drums" and "clearing your ears" before the ascent to assure yourself that the eustachian tube is open and allowing air passage / Make unusually slow assents / Slow your ascent the closer you get to the surface / Be prepared to compensate for a sudden rise in elevation due to a unexpected current surge / Stretch and open your eustachian tube by tilting your head from side to side as if trying to put your ear on your shoulder. Well that is about it. Good luck. Reverse block is a tough one. Most experts avoid addressing it.

Charleston SC Scuba Club
 
Reverse block is far better prevented than managed. This means not diving when you are significantly congested, and, if you experience difficulties with equalization on the way down, perhaps not continuing the dive to much depth. In general, it will be easier for gas to ESCAPE from the airspaces than to enter them, and therefore equalizing on the way down should be more difficult than on the way up. This is because the escaping gas tends to dilate the passages through which it needs to pass, whereas, on the way down, the compression tends to collapse them. That's why reverse block is less common than simple difficulty with equalization.

Abdominal gas should not be a problem, as it isn't going to expand to any volume greater than its original volume on the surface, and it can distribute itself easily through the intestine.

Similarly with teeth -- Even if a tiny air bubble is left in a tooth after a procedure, you should have your pain on descent when it compresses, because it can't expand to a greater volume than it had when you began.

If you do experience a reverse block, you've already gotten good advance. Descend a little bit, work on jaw movement, swallowing, head positioning, and see if a slower ascent will allow it to work out. Since ascending is the one mandatory maneuver in diving, if you have a true block, you are eventually going to have to ascend and tolerate the pain and the damage that you are doing. Thus the recommendation to avoid situations where reverse block is likely.
 
I suffer from them occasionally. Another remedy, after trying the othr ones people mentioned, is to drop down to a comfortable depth and then remove mask and blow your nose.
 
thank you and your journal entries are really comforting - any new diver can relate to them, and feel confident that, in the end, it will all turn out well - like they did in your case :)
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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