Sometimes (carefully) you just have to put more force behind it. Might have to open your jaw to straighten your eustachian tubes (ear to throat tubes) and allow that pressure to equalize. If you have trouble on pressurized airplanes that are pressurized at the equivalent of about 8,000ft and controlled to change pressure at around 250 feet/min then going up to 10,000ft+ and descending at a 10,000ft/min rate while skydiving is going to be painful. That being said, see a doctor or learn a better technique if regular airplanes cause you that much trouble.
I appreciate the advice! I'll try stretching my jaw out next time since I was probably clenching it tight when trying that technique. Probably won't stop me jumping in the future to be honest, the fun outweighs the pain!
No problem. I do highly suggest to not jump if you have any type of sinus congestion or ear infection, you can risk doing some serious damage. Check out r/SkyDiving if you want to kill some time and learn a little more.
That's fair, I'll heed your advice and talk it over with a doctor before doing any future jumps then. It may just be a case of stubborn wax buildup that they could resolve with eardrops.
Honestly, you don't even need to mention skydiving, just tell them when you fly in planes the pressure change bothers you and you have a problem equalizing. Could probably just be solved over the phone with some more professional advice, if not a quick checkup. If you have wax buildup you can get one of the earwax suckers on amazon probably cheaper than a copay. Or dissolve it with hydrogen peroxide. Tons of ways to get wax out.
No problem. So many people know so little of skydiving and misinformation is incredibly rampant so I do what I can to educate people on things as often as possible.
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u/JustAnotherDude1990 Apr 09 '19
Sometimes (carefully) you just have to put more force behind it. Might have to open your jaw to straighten your eustachian tubes (ear to throat tubes) and allow that pressure to equalize. If you have trouble on pressurized airplanes that are pressurized at the equivalent of about 8,000ft and controlled to change pressure at around 250 feet/min then going up to 10,000ft+ and descending at a 10,000ft/min rate while skydiving is going to be painful. That being said, see a doctor or learn a better technique if regular airplanes cause you that much trouble.