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PiLFy

Skydiving w/Cervical Arthritis?

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Evening All,
I've a question for the more experienced, please. I almost have an A-license finished. It took a lot of overcoming fear, along w/some hard landings to get here. I'm now @the threshold of a great sport I'm looking forward to enjoying for many years. One problem. After last weekend. My forearms & hands went partially numb:(... Dx: mild Cervical Arthritis. I go for an MRI tomorrow after work. The numbness has all but resolved. I'm 45, & in pretty good shape. I know of one guy @my DZ who has two herniated discs in his neck from several years ago. He jumps almost every day. Sometimes, he jumps w/an older twin camera set up that weighs A LOT.

Is this a sport that people w/normal age-related disc degeneration can safely do? Instructors @my DZ have several thousand jumps, each. Two of them have about twelve thousand jumps a piece. I know I'll probably never accumulate nearly as many jumps. I'd hate to have to give the sport up after just finding it, though. Are there many others here jumping in their Forties & Fifties? How have you made out? I'm afraid to admit to my Doctors that I skydive. I met another student who had his medical bills denied because it was a skydiving injury. I'm thinking that dacron lines, maybe a larger slider, & larger chutes will take a fair amount of force out of the opening shock. What do you guys think?

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Definitely feel for you!

Firstly I would say its pretty important to be straight up honest with your doc or physio about what your doing, if you dont trust your doc enough to be honest with him/her then get a new doctor.

I'm a lot younger than you (as in half your age) but a previous sporting past combined with a bit of bad luck has left me with arthritic pains I shouldnt have to worry about for 50 years:

Snapped right ankle, snapped left tibia, snapped tibia again, ACL reconstruction in left knee, chronic tendonosis and torn patella tendon in right knee, broken rib, broken rib, broken rib, snapped collarbone, snapped collarbone again, cracked shoulder blade, x2 compressed vertebrae in neck, dislocated left wrist once and right wrist twice, a cyst has developed in my right wrist joint, 3 severe concussions and on top of all that I have a spinal disease that places huge load on my lumbar spine and is untreatable.

All of this equals huge amounts of pain on a daily basis. But i actually find the worst pain is simply from lugging the rig around on my back. Joints all ache after a day of walking let alone skydiving, kickboxing, gymnastics, hiking etc.

I guess what Im saying is you gotta know the juice is worth the squeeze. Provided your not causing any further damage by doing what ever, then you just have to decide if the pain at the end of the day is worth the life changing experiences your getting yourself into each weekend.

Sorry i know im not much help. Stretch, exercise, yoga, diet, pills, big chutes, it will all help.

Enjoy it now coz you cant when your in a retirement home...

:)

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I herniated 7 discs in my cervical and thoracic spine on an SL jump in the army about 15 years ago. I had to quit jumping and doing much of anything for several years. It would gimp me up so bad, I couldn't hardly stand up straight for weeks. My left hand would spasm and my forearm muscles quiver and shake. I had injections and physical therapy for about a year after but declined surgery for fear it would be worse.

For about 10 years, the pain would randomly come on, or be brought on by some activity I did (never, ever jump on a trampoline if you have a bad neck).

I always wanted to skydive and decided to give it a shot last year .. assuming I'd end up in pain and on the traction machine again if the openings weren't feather soft.

I take special care to pull stable and not allow my head to slam down on my chest at opening and haven't even had one stiff neck from skydiving yet. Granted I jump a big ole 230 Storm that opens like a dream. I've had a couple not-so-soft openings from sloppy packing and poor body position, but 90 some jumps later and I've had no slammers on it yet.

I will continue to jump, but at the first hint of neck pain, I will sit on the ground until it's gone. When I downsize, I will look for a system with a nice long snivel and soft opening.

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I'm also 45. I had a herniated disk a couple years ago that gave me tingling down my arm and into my hand. I have 4 bulging disks and degeneration between C3-C7 right now. I've been doing physical therapy and just finished up the three rounds of steriod shots two weeks ago and I also did 2 jumps last weekend.

For me, I have found that I need to keep up with the therapy exercises. I think most of my pain is from being on the computer every day! I also take it easy when my neck is really tight and remember to ice with a flare up and I use heat on most days. I am also having a lot of luck with prescription Ibuprofen patches applied directly to the areas of discomfort. Skydiving with neck pain is doable, but if I were you I'd wait for the MRI results before going again just to make sure you don't have anything really serious going on.
She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

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I have some cervical arthritis too - it certainly hasn't ever kept me from jumping, although mine is not so severe as to cause tingling.

What surprised me what was when I was diagnosed, I was doing a lot of camera jumps with a 10 pound camera helmet, and occasionally had hard openings. The doctors assured me this had absolutely nothing to do with my degeneration, and could not offer any reason why I should stop jumping. Counter intuitive!

My only advice to you is to talk to your doctors. You may find some doctors are particularly biased against skydiving and reluctant to encourage you. If this is the case, I like to substitute the sport of basketball, as it too involves running, jumping, and occasionally landing less than gracefully. If your doctor says you can play basketball, skydiving is a perfectly reasonable activity.

_Am
__

You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

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Sorry to hear about your condition.... I have some cervical and thoracic spine problems myself after a car accident about 10 years ago. The accident was so bad it actually gave me scoliosis, which I never had before the accident and the orthos tell me is very rare to get from a trauma. Anyway, I get the tingling and numbness as well, but my MRIs show a stable spine with only one spot of disc degeneration in the lower thoracic region.

I mentioned skydiving to my ortho (and I'll also mention it to my neurologist when I have another appt with him in a few months), and he was less than happy. He said that I'm at a higher risk of paralysis at the site of the disc degeneration because of a greater likelihood of spinal cord compression with any kind of impact. He knows I'm in dental school though, so he went on to say, "But all dentists need are their hands right? Having use of your legs doesn't matter," clearly being sarcastic. [:/]

At the end of the day, yes I am at a greater risk of having something happen while skydiving, but I take that same risk when driving in a car (what if I got in another accident?). The one thing he mentioned that I will be cognizant of is the issue of arm numbness while trying to steer, turn, flare, etc. If you have a rough opening that jars your spine enough to cause even temporary numbness, how well will you be able to control your movement under canopy...

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I'm moved to "Skydivers w/disabilities"??? Jeeze, I'm getting older by the minute:ph34r:...

Sorry, I don't see how to do a group reply for this post. Thank You for all of the informative replies, everyone. I'm relieved to see that injuries & conditions far worse than mine apparently won't keep me on the ground. I'm hoping to enjoy many years in the sport. I did the MRI, & should get the results tomorrow. I hope to be back to jumping again within a few weeks. Thanks again, everyone.

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Evening All,
I've a question for the more experienced, please. I almost have an A-license finished. It took a lot of overcoming fear, along w/some hard landings to get here. I'm now @the threshold of a great sport I'm looking forward to enjoying for many years. One problem. After last weekend. My forearms & hands went partially numb:(... Dx: mild Cervical Arthritis. I go for an MRI tomorrow after work. The numbness has all but resolved. I'm 45, & in pretty good shape. I know of one guy @my DZ who has two herniated discs in his neck from several years ago. He jumps almost every day. Sometimes, he jumps w/an older twin camera set up that weighs A LOT.

Is this a sport that people w/normal age-related disc degeneration can safely do? Instructors @my DZ have several thousand jumps, each. Two of them have about twelve thousand jumps a piece. I know I'll probably never accumulate nearly as many jumps. I'd hate to have to give the sport up after just finding it, though. Are there many others here jumping in their Forties & Fifties? How have you made out? I'm afraid to admit to my Doctors that I skydive. I met another student who had his medical bills denied because it was a skydiving injury. I'm thinking that dacron lines, maybe a larger slider, & larger chutes will take a fair amount of force out of the opening shock. What do you guys think?




I'm also younger- 27, but I had a cervical diskectomy and fusion thanks to a combat injury from Iraq. My recovery went terrible and it turns out my spinal canal isn't as wide as it used to be, therefore causing inflammation to my nerve foramen. Also, I have degenerative disk disease (arthritis) pretty bad.

I found that as long as I workout regularly, do yoga, and stretch in general prior to jumping, I feel great! I am in pain 99 percent of the time, but skydiving does nothing to hurt my injury further (yet).

I'm sure if I couldn't convince either chute' to open it may cause further damage to my neck- but that's just a guess.
Mike

"If we don't know life, how can we know death?" - Confucius

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Hi Mike,
Thank You for your service & sacrifice. I'm very sorry to read that you're now a chronic pain patient. If I may ask. Have you taken your MRI films to an outside (read: non-VA) Doctor? The neck is a tricky area, but perhaps they could eliminate the impingement w/a followup surgery?

As it turned out w/me. The cervical arthritis is the easy part. I had a back injury I didn't know about for a couple of months. My Doctor feels that herniated disks, & a vertebrae that shifted out of alignment, caused my neck to flare-up. Long_story_short, I have to wait for the Spring, & see how it goes... Good Luck w/your neck next jump season.

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A second opinion is always good, however just because it is VA docs, it does not mean that he did not get a good or even great doctor.


Some of those docs are the best money can buy, I have two that are world renowned, researchers as well as MD's.

It is a matter of who you get and whether or not they can actually help you, there is not a financial incentive so I can count on them not doing something just because it costs a lot.

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Very true. I actually have a great, not-partial Army doc, a good VA team, and was actually out-sources to one of Cali's leading Neuro-surgeons for my surgery.

A second surgery was discussed, but as of now has been discounted. I'm looking at nerve abilations and continued physical therapy/meds (however I began refusing meds a while ago, not good for ya).
Mike

"If we don't know life, how can we know death?" - Confucius

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A second opinion is always good, however just because it is VA docs, it does not mean that he did not get a good or even great doctor.


Some of those docs are the best money can buy, I have two that are world renowned, researchers as well as MD's.

It is a matter of who you get and whether or not they can actually help you, there is not a financial incentive so I can count on them not doing something just because it costs a lot.



"there is not a financial incentive so I can count on them not doing something just because it costs a lot."

No, but you can count on them cutting corners to save money. I never slammed ALL VA Docs. That would be an asinine & inaccurate statement. I've worked w/a VA-trained MD (unimpressed), & knew a friend who had a simple knee surgery botched by them. It cost him a slot on a pro ball team. I have also known a few people who were thoroughly screwed over by the VA. One would have to be pretty deaf, dumb, & blind to defend a large percentage of their "Care."

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I said some, I know they are in a bind for money, congress acts like this is less important than pork barrel legislation.

If we rid our government of all wasted funds and fraud we would not be in this predicament.

My docs are from Loyola, I have been lucky enough to get the chiefs of clinic in many cases.

It does help that I am a priority group 1 Veteran.

There are times though that I am more than willing to step aside and insist that they treat someone else first.

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I'm sorry.



Hey don't be, I am really doing well.

I may have many injuries but I cannot complain really.

It's just that as I age it won't be so good.

I can do most things still.

I feel bad for the guys that are not ambulatory or have gone blind.

Just a visit at the VA hospital can remind all of us how good we have it.

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"Just a visit at the VA hospital can remind all of us how good we have it."
That's very true, my friend.


"It's just that as I age it won't be so good."
This is what I was thinking of. I'm farther down the road than you. You get there before you know it.

I'm sorry I was a little short w/you in a previous thread. PM me any time.

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I know it is not the same for everyone, but how long did it take to go from neck popping loud enough to be heard across the room, accompanied by nausea, numbness, slight loss of motor skills, and pain that is more than what you were use to tolerating with meds, until something needed to be done surgically?

It's at that point now, I cannot even program because 15min of head down reading is too much.

I am 49 now and don't want to wind up like the people I see LIVING at the hospital.

I am not scared of anything on this planet but would rather not have to be dealing with prolonged severe problems.

You can message me if you don't want to post.

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