Aff Student learning how to deal and overcome

[drainbamaged 0]

my background first. I am a Wounded Iraqi Vet. I have two broken vert in my neck six groups of herniated discs in my back. no cartilage in my knees and hips. i have 11 jumps still have not landed on my feet. my back is fine with the jumps and short of landing in a creek my lower body was fine ( had to take a month off for that mess). now last night i had my packing class and wow the pain. i rather go land in the creek again. is there a way to pack a chute with kneeling and using you knees so much? i want to be able to pack my own and not have to pay a packer for each and every jump. i already have my own rig but at this point the pain might force me to pay. also with my lower injuries should i talk to my instructor about not landing on my feet and go for my butt? i have talk with my docs both physical and mental and they both approve. this is helping with my PTSD and my wife says i have been the most relaxed since i went over. so i am not quitting. it is helping to much. i just need help ironing these few bumps out. thank you sorry for book.

[wmw999 2,120]

I'm glad youve found something effective. Instead of kneeling, you can sit down for much of what the kneeling would do (line stows, putting the bag into the container, etc). Or you could get one of those really thick foam kneeling pads that gardeners use, but sitting will feel better in the long run. It will take longer, but you're there to jump for your pleasure, not the volume right now. And packing for yourself will give you a mastery of your gear that will increase your confidence.

I'm not going to give any advice about landing, but I will say that a larger and slower canopy will be much more forgiving on landing. You won't be swooping, but you'll more likely be walking back from every landing smiling.

I PLF regularly. That might hurt your knees more, so it might not be best for you. Talk with people, and try stuff out.

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[andym148 2]

Hi Braindamaged,

Sorry to hear about the pain in your knees when packing! For me it's only a pain in my ass that i feel due to having to pack (i hate packing..but i hate paying for packing more!)

Having worked quite a lot with injured vets here in the UK teaching them to skydive, i'm very firmly of the opinion that butt landings are the way ahead if your limited in your lower limb mobility. What we have found with the DAK amputees is that after drilling them on canopy control, and having them do a tandem for their first jump. They can get their eye in to find out the flair point for their canopy, making the landing on their first jump easier and softer.
While out in SoCal on one of the training trips, one of the guys said his girlfriend had not seen hime so relaxed and happy in a long time. I'm glad it has the same effect on you as well. We have a Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/BLESMATrans4mers.

Good luck,

Andy

At long last the light at the end of the tunell isnt an on coming train!!!

[jbscout2002 1]

Drainbamaged,

I'll leave the advice for the more experienced, but I have a very similar background as you, medically retired vet with shrapnel lodged in lower back ver close to the spine, so here are some of my observations. Butt landings may have their uses, however, with new jumpers, a mis timed flare can very quickly result in a broken tailbone or back. Once you dial in the flare for a stand up landing, they can be as soft as stepping out of bed. While packing, I sit down a lot and take breaks often. Sit and set the breaks and uncollapse the slider, then do the lines and flaking, take a break and walk around, sit down and get the d bag ready, cock the PC and bag, do two locking stows and take a break, after the container is closed I stretch a little and then sit down to do the PC. The more you pack, the better you get, which makes it feel easier, and your back builds up to the way you are using it. (Unless it is nerve pain, then you just watch other people's landings, ask questions, and soak it in).

[Anachronist 2]

You could try using knee pads packing, I see some of the paid packers use them as well. Does your packing mat have padding? To me there is a big difference between packing on carpet/concrete versus carpet/pad/concrete; if it helps, it might be worth looking into.

The good news is that it may get better, though my knees aren't injured, I remember them hurting when I started packing, but I don't notice it anymore. If you ease into it it might get better over time, depending on your knees of course. And as was previously mentioned, you can do most of it sitting down if your hips are agreeable.

As for landings, take some professional canopy courses, jump in good wind conditions, and if you are able, look into paragliding. It is low impact and will teach you to fly much better than skydiving. The skills you learn paragliding will help you out skydiving (not the other way around though).

[Joellercoaster 6]

Other people have given good advice about landing and canopies and such.

About the packing issue, there may simply not be a fix, short of flat-packing on a huge table. A good friend of mine, less damaged than you but with very bad knees, eventually gave up on the idea of packing - he needed to demonstrate that he could do it for his B certificate here, but resigned himself to paying for packers after that.

--
"I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan

"You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

[sammielu 3]

Butt landings put most of the impact on your pelvis and back. No good for you. Keep working with your instructors on landing techniques and stay on big slow canopies.

Packing gets easier over time, but it never gets easy. Your body adjusts to the wierd body positions and particular muscles used, and each person has to determine what works for them. Packing courses include a lot of sweat and frustration! Unfortunately, bigger canopies can certainly be more difficult to pack. I recommend patience and practice and going slow. Also giving yourself the luxury of a paid pack job now and then can be a really nice treat if it's hot out or you're tired or a cool jump opportunity comes up.

Gear choices can make packing somewhat easier in the future: brand new canopies are harder to pack and cramming the biggest size canopy that a container can fit is more difficult. When you look at gear, welcome the 800+ jump mains and the containers that can't go down any smaller, easier to pack both. Befriend a rigger to help with this stuff, they might have packing pointers too!