Advice - to jump or not to jump (with whiplash)

[berec1 0]

Hi there,

On Tuesday I was in a minor collision when the coach I was travelling on hit a car (at low speed). The collision gave me minor whiplash, and I am on various prescription painkillers right now.

Here's my problem. In May, I and five others began fundraising for a charity skydive in aid of our friend's sister who was killed in the London bombings last year. We managed to set a date - August 26 (11 days after my collision) - for the team skydive and have raised a decent amount of money for the charity foundation set up in memory of our friend's sister. My worry now is whether, even if my whiplash pain clears up by next Saturday - 11 days after the incident - I should really be doing a skydive.

We can't rearrange as four divers run pubs and it's taken 2 months to find a suitable date - so the chance of finding another suitable date before the weather turns bad is nigh on impossible. I did the main part of fundraising and press promotion for this, so I'd be absolutely gutted if I miss out, and I really want to do it. But I also realise that further injury is not a good thing!

We're contacting the people arranging the skydive to see what they feel, but i wanted to hear from other skydivers about personal opinions on this - it would be good to hear from people other than the ones we are paying to do the dive with!

[piisfish 140]

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The collision gave me minor whiplash, and I am on various prescription painkillers right now.

find someone to take your slot, stay on the ground to explain to more people what your charity jump is about.

scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

[Squeak 17]

I crashed my car 3 weeks ago and I'm jumping this week, the neck would probably have been fine last week, but there was an occassiopna twinge, and I'd rather not make matters any worse.
But hey WTF it's your neck

You are not now, nor will you ever be, good enough to not die in this sport (Sparky)
My Life ROCKS!
How's yours doing?

[peregrinerose 0]

First, being on various prescription painkillers isn't a good way to jump.

A fast opening can give you a whiplash type effect, hurting your neck more.

The sky will always be there, so think carefully about taking chances. Ask a doc. Make sure you aren't taking Rx'd painkillers the day of the skydive as they can make you a little sluggish and less able to do what you need to.

Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

[popsjumper 2]

I wouldn't do it. I'd find a replacement jumper.

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[fcajump 164]

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I wouldn't do it. I'd find a replacement jumper.

Ditto... sorry dude...

Always remember that some clouds are harder than others...

[PhreeZone 20]

Are you doing a Static line or a tandem?

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[Fast 0]

Yet again, asking medical advice on the internet. Speak to your doctor, if he doesn't think you should skydive, then don't. If you want to still do it, let your friends go up and jump, talk to the press, and make the jump another day when your neck is healed up. Then you can get extra coverage in the terms of them saying you finally jumped X months later after healing up.

Anyways, talk to a doctor, not a bunch of people on the internet.

~D
Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me.
Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

[Sockpuppet 0]

Is this proper whiplash or Insurance whiplash

------
Two of the three voices in my head agree with you. It might actually be unanimous but voice three only speaks Welsh.

[catfishhunter 2]

My Neck hurts all the frigging time. All day every day.I have progressive osteo-arthritisis or thats what the chiropractor said after my LAST car accident. (my X-ray look like a picture of dying coral) Doc said nothing he could do before I started jumping so not gonna go ask if I should be jumping. Besides my neck feels so much better after a High Speed Adjustment

Oh what should you do? Hell I don't know but I'd jump unless you got a lawyer trying to get you some cash out of the train wreck. Video of you skydiving will bugger that up real fast

MAKE EVERY DAY COUNT
Life is Short and we never know how long we are going to have. We must live life to the fullest EVERY DAY. Everything we do should have a greater purpose.

[WeakMindedFool 0]

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Is this proper whiplash or Insurance whiplash

No such thing as proper whiplash...lol. It's a term that was made up in court not in a Dr.'s office

Faith in a holy cause is to a considerable extent a substitute for lost faith in ourselves.
-Eric Hoffer -
Check out these Videos

[Foggy 0]

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No such thing as proper whiplash...lol. It's a term that was made up in court not in a Dr.'s office

so what term would you use? My "whiplash" resulted in having my C5,6 and 7 fused with cadaver bone and a titanium plate.

Foggy

[berec1 0]

Cheers for the responses.

Just to clarify - I was not asking for medical advice on this thread. I am seeing my doctor about that. The medical people are all telling me that I should be fine in a few days and off prescription painkillers by Tuesday, and the jump is not until Saturday. If the doctor says no, I don't jump, simple as that.

What i was looking for was feedback from people who have done jumps and know what it actually involves, because if I'm being told "yes you're fine" by the doctor, but those in the know are saying that it takes a lot out of your neck to dive and they would be thinking twice before doing it, I have more feedback to base my final decision on than simply relying on the doctor why may never have thought about skydiving in their life!

Everyone I know has said "oh sod it just jump anyway" but I realise that none of them have jumped out of a plane - at least seeing that people who have jumped are coming up with differing opinions on this thread has given me things to consider when I go for my final check with my doctor.

So thanks for the comments, they are much appreciated.

It's a tandem by the way.

[WeakMindedFool 0]

Broken neck?

Faith in a holy cause is to a considerable extent a substitute for lost faith in ourselves.
-Eric Hoffer -
Check out these Videos

[Foggy 0]

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Broken neck?

Nope, compression and herniation of discs between C5, 6 and 7 causing partial paralysis of right arm (pressure on the nerve root)). That is my "shower" hand so had to have it fixed

Foggy

[WeakMindedFool 0]

ROFL...Yep...the second most important appendage

Faith in a holy cause is to a considerable extent a substitute for lost faith in ourselves.
-Eric Hoffer -
Check out these Videos

[Fast 0]

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Cheers for the responses.

Just to clarify - I was not asking for medical advice on this thread. I am seeing my doctor about that. The medical people are all telling me that I should be fine in a few days and off prescription painkillers by Tuesday, and the jump is not until Saturday. If the doctor says no, I don't jump, simple as that.

What i was looking for was feedback from people who have done jumps and know what it actually involves, because if I'm being told "yes you're fine" by the doctor, but those in the know are saying that it takes a lot out of your neck to dive and they would be thinking twice before doing it, I have more feedback to base my final decision on than simply relying on the doctor why may never have thought about skydiving in their life!

Everyone I know has said "oh sod it just jump anyway" but I realise that none of them have jumped out of a plane - at least seeing that people who have jumped are coming up with differing opinions on this thread has given me things to consider when I go for my final check with my doctor.

So thanks for the comments, they are much appreciated.

It's a tandem by the way.

Your doctor is probably the most conservative person you will ask. If they say its ok and you jump and hurt yourself thier ass and the ass of thier malpractice insurance is on the line.

~D
Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me.
Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

[Deuce 1]

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it's just getting the right person to see the house.

Nah, he's in Europe, very different mindset.

I think you'll be fine. I am, however, both pretty stupid and very tough. You can jump with your neck brace (or a neck brace if you don't have one) I've seen that many times on people with noodle necks.

What's the worst that could happen?

[Carver 0]

It's better to be on the ground wishing you were in the sky...than being in the sky wishing you were on the ground.

Just some advice I received worth passing on.

And wiplash could be pretty nasty combined with sever opening shock or a harsh landing.

Never try to skip a stage of natural progression...

[ernguru 0]

Dude

Ask yourself a simple question. If I do this jump could it do more damage to my neck. If your answer is YES then you know what to do

[pirana 0]

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No such thing as proper whiplash...lol. It's a term that was made up in court not in a Dr.'s office

so what term would you use? My "whiplash" resulted in having my C5,6 and 7 fused with cadaver bone and a titanium plate.

Foggy

I had that too last summer; except with a chunk of bone from my own hip instead of cadaver.

My advice, Get a substitute until you know EXACTLY what is up with your neck. Even minor whiplash (caused by the same dynamics as a hard opening) can lead to big problems. It is a catchphrase of a label, but it is a very real injury. I suppose the proper term would be a hyperextension of the neck or something like that.

Talking to the Dr about it is a good idea, but unless the Doc knows skydiving, that advice could be suspect. Inform the Doc that a hard opening imparts the same forces in the same way as a rear-end collision and see what he advises. Better yet, find an ortho who knows skydiving.

" . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

[jumpdr 0]

Well, it's past the date for the jump, so I'd be interested to know whether you did or not.
Whiplash as someone pointed out, is a catch-all phrase for neck pain due to stretching or tearing of cervical muscles and ligaments due to sudden extension/flexion of neck - be that an RTA, or a hard opening. The damaged parts get inflamed over a period of hours/days (hence why it doesn't necessarily hurt at the time, but does the next day) and stiffen up. The painkillers you're on probably include some sort of anti-inflammatory too.
Early mobilisation is essential, or else your neck will become stiff and you can get into lasting problems. A few words of advice and some exercises from a physio wouldn't hurt.
If it was a minor case, such as the one you seem to describe, I'd imagine things would settle down after a week or two and you wouldn't suffer any lasting damage. Further injuries caused by a potential hard opening would probably be the same whether you'd injured it previously or not and I'd be inclined to say yes, you were OK to jump.
A more severe case which might have partially or completely torn ligaments might leave your neck weaker and less able to cope with the forces involved in a normal opening, let alone a hard one, in which case avoiding such forces would be advised.

Clearly, I don't know your particular case, nor have I examined you so my advice should not be taken directly. It's something you need to discuss with your own doctor and a decision to be made on the severity of the initial injury, degree of recovery and remaining disability and the 'likelihood' of a hard opening. I'll have a rummage around and see if I can find any data on the forces placed on the neck during a 'typical' and 'hard' opening - it might be interesting...

Skydiving is more than a sport and more than a job: skydiving is pure passion and desire which will fill a lifetime.