Ruptured Ear Drum... Helmets?

Well... I've been working on the boom to hone my Barefooting skills this past week. Yesterday I took a weird fall and smacked the side of my head HARD on the water. Sure enough... I ruptured my eardrum. Hearing in my right ear is off, and it's quite painful.

My question is... do any of you guys wear helmets   with earguards? What are the pro's and con's to wearing a helmet while barefooting?

Any thoughts?

Joe

Thanks Steve,

How's your recovery coming?

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it's important to have the right can on top, unless you enjoy neck problems.
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That's what I was concerned about wearing a helmet. It would seem that at 36 mph if you fell and the water caught the helmet in a weird way it could do more harm than good. Out of the 20 or so falls I've taken while learning... this was the first one that caused any problems, so maybe I'm being overly cautious.

Get well soon buddy!

Joe

Thanks Tim,

ProPlugs look like the ticket. Hopefully I can find some locally.

Joe

With ear plugs etc., and not being able to hear affects my sense of how fast I'm going. Somewhat like skiing into the wind, it seems like you're going faster than you really are.

bkhallpass wrote: I believe that neoprene surfing hood works better than a helmet for eardrum protection. Of course the helmet also offers some measure of brain protection as well. BKH

Brian,

Tried a neoprene hood once for thermal protection slaloming, the problem I experienced was any water that gets in or behind the neoprene near the ear just pounds and compresses in your eardrum from the wind at speed, peeled it back to finish my set and never used it again.

helmets are for women

ryanandrews wrote: helmets are for women

When you can invert you can talk

ps-

i think the bow light is out on your boat!!

Broken ear drums too many times. 2 or 3 on right, 3 or 4 on left, to the point of poor hearing in left. Once slalom, mostly footing, especially toe-holds, which I quit doing because when you fall you get torqued to the side. Broken ear drums hurt like a son-of-a gun, especially an hour or so after you do it.

I always steered clear of ear plugs. I was afraid of them getting rammed down your ear canal and doing more damage. I have used those big waxy ones you form fit, they might be okay but I wouldn't use those plastic ones or the ones with the little vanes on them.

And skiing behind a short boat.

75 Tique wrote: I always steered clear of ear plugs. I was afraid of them getting rammed down your ear canal and doing more damage. I have used those big waxy ones you form fit, they might be okay but I wouldn't use those plastic ones or the ones with the little vanes on them.

I read somewhere (probably the Proplugs website) that regular earplugs wont prevent ruptured eardrums. They keep the water out, but a solid hit will compress the air between the plug and the eardrum and still cause it to rupture. The Proplugs are vented to prevent this.

Ill bring my fit kit next time we ski, Larry. I need a handle, but I want to start doing toe-holds soon.

TRBenj wrote: I need a handle, but I want to start doing toe-holds soon.

I'll dig around, I have one someplace, old, reroped several times and rehandled once (short handle) but still has the strap so still usable. If we hook up again, I'll bring it.

helmets are for women....ruptured my eardrum last fall and would deal with the pain again before i wore a helmet....

tim- i think the bulbs burned out or something..

backdoor- tried em so wanna feel my balls see if they are big enough?...you must have softball size balls huh!

I think the only helmets Ryan likes are "Purple Helmet's"!! He ride's em all day and long!!

ryanandrews wrote: helmets are for women....ruptured my eardrum last fall and would deal with the pain again before i wore a helmet.... tim- i think the bulbs burned out or something.. backdoor- tried em so wanna feel my balls see if they are big enough?...you must have softball size balls huh!

Oh God, another one of the "play through the pain" a**holes! Hey little man, when you're ready to play with the big dogs, strap on a girly helmet and come jumping with me. Regular or barefoot, doesn't matter.

If you can't provide some sort of constructive responses to someone who's looking for legitimate help, get off the site a**wipe.

backfoot100 wrote: ryanandrews wrote: helmets are for women....ruptured my eardrum last fall and would deal with the pain again before i wore a helmet.... tim- i think the bulbs burned out or something.. backdoor- tried em so wanna feel my balls see if they are big enough?...you must have softball size balls huh! Oh God, another one of the "play through the pain" a**holes! Hey little man, when you're ready to play with the big dogs, strap on a girly helmet and come jumping with me. Regular or barefoot, doesn't matter. If you can't provide some sort of constructive responses to someone who's looking for legitimate help, get off the site a**wipe.

Backfoot-

Where do I sign up to barefoot jump?