Helmet vs occipital nerve

[jzzsxm 0]

After my most recent bout of jumping this weekend I'm having wicked headaches and nerve pain. It feels like I slept on my neck wrong or pinched a nerve except that it started during the day, not at night.

My internet sleuthing skills (no, I haven't been to a doctor) have led me to believe that the offending nerve is the occipital.

I didn't have a hard opening, and there's the possibility that I may have tweaked it when looking around under canopy or something, but the more I think about it the more I think it may be my helmet.

I jump with a Phantom X which has a cool drawstring around the back of the neck and a snap fastener on the side of the helmet. The drawstring lays right where the pain radiates from and I think I may also be putting stress on stuff when I pull/jerk that string taught.

So, my question: Has anybody else with a Phantom X experienced headaches and nerve pain like this? Do you have a more elegant way of cinching that drawstring tight without jerking your head sideways?

Thanks guys!

[tomahawkpilot 0]

Never had a problem with my Phantom X, which worked very well for me.

[roostnureye 2]

sounds like a hard opening or you had your head oriented other than straight forward

Flock University FWC / ZFlock
B.A.S.E. 1580
Aussie BASE 121

[jzzsxm 0]

Quote

sounds like a hard opening or you had your head oriented other than straight forward

Potentially, but it certainly wasn't a noticeably hard opening. It started after my first jump Sunday and that was just as smooth an opening as ever. I may have torqued it during opening somehow, but I don't think it was the opening force.

BTW, saw a doctor, and I'm now enjoying the effects of vicodin.

[conwayte 0]

Nice. Better living through pharmaceutical intervention.

[drjump 0]

Sounds like you may have subluxated C-1 vertebrae. Visit a Chiropractor for an exam and adjustment. Correct the cause of the headaches and save the pills for recreation..

[ChrisD 0]

It dosen't take much to screw with your neck muscles. Keep your head in an unusuall position for any length of time, and tommoro can be very painfull. Flying a glider on occasion forces your head into an unusuall angle and the next week can be agony,...YES a whole week!

Yoga, and I mean gradual buildup of very agressive yoga over a month, you would be surprized at the relife and benifite over time if you can keep up neck and streching exercises over time...I cannot ever reccomend a bone bender for performance sports types of issues, just seen too many poor outcomes! Way too many people go to the gonad school of bonebending and come out thinking they know what ails ya, many people benifite from a multidisiplanary approach, but the bone benders like EXCLUSIVE control, which has never been a good thing!

As another suggestion see if yo can find a performance physical trainer and get your arms, torso, and fingers measured to see if everyting is equal length, many are surprised to find that one side as compared to the other side can be over one inch difference, this sets up most for issues that are easily correctable!

Notice that I didn't ask what your doctor said, you indicated that yo have made a visit? Most MD's will just pass a couple of pain relivers your way and then or a muscle relaxer...than you never see them again,...this is not the cure!!

Good luck


Here is a special note about mentioning "drugs" and skydiving and "recreation" in the same sentence...

Not at my dropzone, and we will have your USPA lic suspended!

And I hold no punches, even if they were made in jest...in this fucked up day and age you might as well start yelling you forgot where you put your bomb on your next cross country flight...

But what do I know, "I only have one tandem jump."

[davelepka 4]

Quote

After my most recent bout of jumping this weekend I'm having wicked headaches and nerve pain. It feels like I slept on my neck wrong or pinched a nerve except that it started during the day, not at night.

I didn't have a hard opening

Mishaps mid-jump sometimes have a way of occuring without you knowing about it. I think you get so jacked up during the jump that it slides right by you, and you don't notice it until later. A number of times I have landed and looked down to see blood on my toggles from a cut or scrape on my hand that I didn't feel in slightest.

I'm not sure that a drawstring liner on your helmet has the ability to cause injury by just cinching it down. Of course, I'm not a doctor, but I would lean more toward some sort of ackward bump or over-extension during the jump that you just didn't feel at the time.

[riggerrob 643]

Many people suffer G-lock - during opening shock - and don't even know it.
G-lock can make you lapse into unconsciousness for a fraction of a second.
I suspect that you experienced a riser slap exactly on that adjustable cord.

[Andy9o8 2]

I know after reading this thread, I am absolutely convinced.