Hard openings and your neck !!!!!

[skydiver51 0]

I just got back from the Neuro Surgeon. He told me my jumping days were over.
I experienced a super hard opening May 31 last year that broke a steering line. I was in the hospital for 4 days for major soft tissue damage and a brusied lung. The right side of my neck has been hurting me really bad since the accident and I been thru PT and a cortizone injection but nothing has helped. Finally my Orthopedic DR. sent me to this Neuro Surgeon and he told me I had five bad disc that will have to come out if I keep jumping. Part of the reason the disc are bad is i'm 52 yrs old, the other part is from jumping ( the accident caused 4 to start bulgeing). So Older jumpers keep this in mind if your canopy regularly opens hard and younger jumpers might think of looking for a new canopy when you get to around 40.
I don't think I will completely quit jumping but I think my camera flying days are over.

[mjosparky 4]

Try upsizing to a 210 Spectre. I understand they have great openings.
Sparky

My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

[cruzit 0]

Wow...now I'm worried. I had a really hard opening followed by a typical Stilletto 360 in August which gave me whiplash so bad I couldn't turn my head for a week. I've been having trouble with my neck ever since but have been afraid to visit my doc to find out what was going on....

That's a real bummer. Sounds like your little rocket canopy days may be over. Definately take it easy.

[chuteless 1]

I have had dozens of hard openings, the hardest was when I used the 30 ft risors on a Para Commander...Im surprised it didnt break my neck. On others, my helmet came flyinf off.

I can make a couple os recommendations that MAY help you.

If you arent, you should try to utilize a chin cup on the helmet strap. It allows for tension on the helmet. At the same time, when you open, try grabbing the helmet to prevent it from snapping forward more than necessary.

Neck excercises can also strengthen your neck muscles, but wont help the degenerated disks

I have damaged disks in neck and back, they are about the size of a quarter in thicknesss.

I have never heard of "removing" disks, but have heard of fusing the vertebrae together, although it may not be much of a problem solver.

I would think you could still jump but maybe leave the camera off.

Some may not agree, but I fiond a standing position opening keeps the head from snapping forward, and it is very much easier on the neck and back.

Contrary to some who believe it can cause spinal compression, I find it much easier, and no pain involved at all.

I feel some people compare a standup opening with the forces of spinal decompression such as would be from an ejection from a jet. There is NO comparison.

Good luck, and stay healthy

Bill Cole

[dreamsville 0]

Some of us get as big and symetrical as we can and are half-sitting-up looking at the horizon when we prepare for opening. It's almost like the stand but maybe a bit slower fall rate. Seems to work well and is also less likely to whiplash than being totally flat.
|

I don't drink during the day, so I don't know what it is about this airline. I keep falling out the door of the plane.

Harry, FB #4143

[SkymonkeyONE 4]

I feel your pain. I have not been able to jump a camera on my head in over a decade. Several years of jumping original Sabres and Monarchs did that to me. Thank god that there are now decent opening parachutes. I am 40 now and still have occasional very-hard times with my neck and lower back, but generally I am fine. Take care of neck and back by jumping "smarter", better opening parachutes.

chuck

[chuteless 1]

I dont really mean a straight stand position, but rather a hunched over stand. Your description is actually better than mine if anyone thinks I meant a straight standup. Sorry, and thanks

Bill Cole

[Unstable 9]

Hmmmm, Talk to LouDiamond and find out about the new Firebolt - Absolutly Beautiful openings, they are marketing it to camera flyers....

=========Shaun ==========

[flow 1]

My vote goes for the Crossfire. Absolutely the softest opening canopy I've ever flown. The XFire2 seems to open bit faster than the original xf but still very soft.

[skydiver51 0]

I failed to include in my origanal post that I jump an Omega 190 and no matter how I pack it it doesn't open hard. The accident happened on a Sabre 170 that belonged to a friend that loaned it to me to video back to back videos. But the damage already being done even my easy opening Omega might shake me around enough to be too much. I'm going to give it a try any way.

[Dumpster 0]

One of the reasons I love my chiropractor.

My neck gives me problems from nodding my welding helmet down and doing other stupid things with my neck/spine. So I've got a kickass auto-darkening welding helmet now, and I jump a Spectre.

Easy Does It

[ZoneRat 0]

One of my best friends recently went through surgery fusing a couple blown disks. They put some metal in there. The metal braces things so well, they say she can jump no problem as soon as she feels ready. She hopes to take her first jump since the surgery this weekend.

My 16-way team coach from last year got some disks fused a while back and has logged well over 1000 jumps since his surgery.

Another coach I know is actually jumping with disks that are currently blown. Don't know that I would recommend that... but she's doing it....

So maybe there's hope, 51.

_______

I've often wondered why camera fliers don't wear soft cervical collars. Seems like such a simple way to inhibit range of movement so a neck injury is not as likely to occur.

“There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.”

[FunBobby 0]

I feel for ya. Years ago, I had a nasty incident that has left me with a degenerated C6-7 disc that is bulging out - badly. All sorts of problems started cropping up when the disc started impacting and compressing the nerve root. It got so bad last summer that I couldn't stand up straight for more than 30 seconds without getting these really awful shooting pains down my arm.

The spine surgery team wanted to perform an ADCF - Anterior Diskectomy / Cerebral Fusion. I know a guy who had that done years ago who is a strike fighter pilot and an avid motocross racer. He regularly pulls and sustains up to 8 G's in flight; his back and neck take a pounding on every catapult shot and carrier landing - not to mention on all the jumps on his motorcycle. He's doing fine.

As for me, months of rest and physical therapy have gotten me well enough that surgery is not necessary now, though I think it may be inevitable for me in the next 10 years or so. I had to lay off jumping for several months, but I've returned to skydiving and have made about 20 so far with minimal problems.

With multiple damaged discs, your case is certainly more delicate and more complicated. Take a look Spine-health.com. There's a lot of good information there. Good luck. There may be hope yet.

FunBobby

[skydiver51 0]

In our sheetmetal shop I also do smoe welding and those older hoods are a real pain in the neck.
But we use those auto-darkening hoods. Makes life so much easier huh?

[Dumpster 0]

I have the NexGen from Jackson. It's really saved my neck. It's got the biggest window I've found. I also put a 1.75 power magnifying lens in, for those tiny-ass TIG welds on stainless steel. I have to admit it took a little getting used to, but it was well worth it.

[skybytch 273]

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Take a look Spine-health.com. There's a lot of good information there.

Thanks for that link!

I had three vertebrae fused in my lower back three years ago and am now having symptoms of cervical discs going out (shooting pain and tingling down the right arm, headaches).

Since I have no medical insurance right now, I'd be interested in hearing what you did physical therapy wise to improve your symptoms.

[skydiver51 0]

Thanks to everyone for the info and your encouragement. People like you whom I haven't met in person, helping with this info is why I love this sport so much and never want to leave it!!

Blue Skies to you all!!!

Don

[usedtajump 1]

The prime reason that I hung it up was due the disc damage to my neck. After thousands of tandem and camera jumps, there is no disc material left between the vertabrae in my neck, it's just bone on bone and it doesn't take much strenuous activity until the pain is unbearable. I elected to quit skydiving rather than have surgery that may or may not improve the condition. I know one person that had the procedure done and is no better off as a result.

The older I get the less I care who I piss off.

[FunBobby 0]

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I'd be interested in hearing what you did physical therapy wise to improve your symptoms.

1. As much rest as possible - no skydiving, running or working out , lots of laying down.
2. Cervical traction with concurrent heat treatment to my neck and back. Regimen had me going 3x week for 30 minutes, 28 lbs static traction.

All cases are different, but this seems to be working for me. It also worked for a friend of mine back in FL who had really bad radicular symptoms; he did the traction thing + chiropractic treatments for 3 months and has been doing really well for 4 years now.

I tried chiro before P.T. - they didn't help at all. As a matter of fact, treatments were painful, and if anything, it may have made my condition worse.

Hope you find something that works.

FunBobby

[mdwhalen 0]

Bobby, you left out the shoulder rubs that that guy in Palatka used to give you.

And Bobby protested, "I am not ..."

"I have magic buttons ;)." skymama

[lauras 0]

I had an anterior cervical diskectomy with allograft and plating of C5 & C6 nearly six weeks ago (12/22/03). My symptoms were immediately relieved when I woke up from surgery. I can't pinpoint any one episode that caused the herniation of the disk, except to chalk it up to an extremely active youth (hard on the neck if you fell a lot like me), a couple of car accidents over the years and a number of whackety-whack! Sabre openings. I had been gradually been losing some range of motion in my neck over the last 3 years and by mid-2003, while doing a lot of training/creeping/tunnel time, I developed a tremendous amount of pain in my right shoulder. I temporarily fixed things with RICE, Vioxx and telling myself I'd see a shoulder guy right after Nationals. Lo and behold, Nationals rolls around and I'm rolling around on the floor at the Lake Wales ER.

My MRIs concluded that I had a huge herniation between C5&6, a slight herniation between C6&7 and all of my shoulder problems and numbness & weakness down the arm & hand were due to the herniations. I firmly believe that recovery is better achieved if a problem is addressed immediately and aggressively. I did a lot of research and got a number of opinions from neurosurgeons, orthopaedic surgeons, sports medicine specialists and physical therapists. I didn't want to screw around with a lot of massage or chiro just to end up in the same boat a year down the road. One thing to note: seeing a sports medicine specialist was very helpful to me. He had an attitude of "let's get you back to your same level of activity, if not better" rather than something like "oh, well, you're engaged in a dangerous sport and you must hang it up." That's crap. Get more opinions. All of the opinions I received were pretty much the same, with the exception of allograft (cadaver bone) vs. autograft (bone harvested from your hip).

I've just concluded six weeks with a hard collar and taking it pretty easy with just some daily walking, and am about to start six weeks of PT. My plan is to be aggressive during PT and back in the air by the beginning of April. I have, of course, made gear changes - like getting a Spectre with Dacron lines. I'll probably wear a soft collar while I'm jumping for a while as well.

So yeah, it just sucked being on the ground during boogie season in Florida, but it's better than not ever being able to jump again. Good luck and please PM if you have any questions.

[KolinskyDC 0]

Definitely get yourself under chiropractic care, and as with any profession, there are good ones and not so good ones, if someone has had a bad experience with chiropractic it does not mean that they will not be able to receive good results from chiropractic, maybe they just need a different chiropractor. Also, as a chiropractor, I can testify to the fact that sometimes people get a little worse before they start feeling better, the reason for this is that when you start moving things around, sometimes you irritate muscles and other soft tissues that have adapted to things being in the wrong place.

Someone also mentioned traction, this might help as well, it takes some of the pressure off of the discs, and helps stretch out the muscles in the neck.

Work on strengthening the muscles in the back of the neck.

If you can train yourself to sleep on your back with a good supportive pillow, this will also help. Make sure this is good support for the curve in your neck, it helps take pressure off of the front of the discs, which is usually the reason that discs will degenerate and star bulging towards the back of the disc.

Hope it helps

Melissa

PM me if you would like me to find some names of chiropractors in your area, my school has a directory of chiropractors in all areas.

"May the best of your past be the worst of your future"

[skydiver51 0]

Did the Dr.s tell you which way your disk were bulging? The 4 that showed up in my MRI were bulging out the left side and so far I haven't had any pain or numbness in either arm. It's really weird but most of my pain is on the right side and the bulges are on the left?!? Go figure.
Any way I plan to keep on jumping with my sniveling Omega but cutting way back on the number of jumps I make in a weekend. Everyone has given me loads of info to check into. I should be starting traction at home with one of those over the door type. If I come up with any new information that may help all of you I will pass it on.

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