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Acole6357

Tandem skydiving questions and back

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So I've still got the itch to go tandem skydiving,I'm going to meet with a new spine surgeon next Wednesday to hopefully get new X-rays and get him to asses my back as it is now.but I need a few questions to ask him in relation to the chute opening and landing. What are some key questions to ask the new surgeon which he would hopefully be able to answer?im wanting to go before summer is over.my old spine surgeon is impossible to get a hold of so I've found one who's hopefully can help.

How far off the ground are you before you land your but off the ground?

Is there possibilities these days for something called a hard opening with the chute.as well at the sky dive center I would be using I red a review of them accommodating someone with MS.

Thanks for the replies and cheers.
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I've been watching tandem skydive landings on YouTube and they don't look rough at all in fact they look like they would not hurt my back at all and saw a video of a 96 year old woman skydiving so I don't feel the need to see a surgeon as I was just talking to a friend who I found out is a pro level instructor and he told me I would be fine,so I guess I'll call the sky dive center itself and see if they can accomidate me
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A dropzone cannot promise that you won't be injured and if you're healthy and think you're ok and want to jump then don't bring it up. The last thing a DZ wants to do is make an evaluation of your medical state. They simply cannot. Your friend is just telling you that typically openings and landings are OK and that's the most a DZ will tell you. Do let your instructor know if you either have trouble bending your back or picking up your legs for landing and he'll plan accordingly.
"I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher

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Bottom line, most openings are reasonable soft and most landings are gentle. You will probably be alright. But.... a hard opening is not all that uncommon, and neither is a less than perfect landing.

Openings and landings that are not perfect are still considered normal. Meaning that a normal skydive that a healthy person without your problems would have no trouble with may be too much for your body.

I'm not trying to convince you one way or the other. I'm just trying to help you understand that there is an extra level of risk for you, and for any DZ that decides to take you.

It's not really something that a doctor can answer for you. Doctors have no real knowledge of skydiving. You will probably be fine in most cases. But not necessarily so.
Always remember the brave children who died defending your right to bear arms. Freedom is not free.

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By jumping with what sounds like a bad back you are putting yourself, the instructor and DZ at risk. Nobody can assure that you will have a soft opening or landing. Nobody can assure you that skydiving is "safe". A tandem student with MS is different than someone with a compromised back.

Can you run up and down a flight of stairs? What would it do if you fell onto your butt from standing?

Make sure to tell the DZ so they can decide whether or not to take you. Be honest!

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All the above stuff is good. Also: you have to conside what a hard opening or hard landing would do to your body, as they are reasonably common and may happen. If you get hurt, do you have health insurance to fix you? What happens if you miss work to heal? Those type questions. Quality of life is important at both ends; do things you want and accept that some things are too much risk... the scale is different for everyone.

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Also, there's nothing stopping you from doing this a year from now when you can get a better evaluation of how your body takes impacts and jarring. But if you injure yourself again now you will not be able to do AND of this a year from now.
"I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher

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the real question/answer is will you mind spending the rest of your lift in a wheelchair or worse to make one skydive?
jumping is fun, doing it with the possibility of a life changeing injury probably will make it not so
U only make 2 jumps: the first one for some weird reason and the last one that you lived through. The rest are just filler.
scr 316

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I can indeed run up and down stairs,I've falling on my but with not issues,I've gone to many a night club and concert and jumped up and down for hours with only minimal back pain the next day,I've gone tubing in a river and feel off and smasked my back on the water with no pain what so ever,I've run a half marathon with non back pain after.this all 4 or so years after my accident.so I think I'd be fine as well should I let the instructor know of my issues before we make the jump?thanks for the great reply's.

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Thanks for all the great reply'so as my doctor told me when I went to see him that it was up to me if I wanted to Tandem skydive and that he could do x-rays but have never been skydiving so he would not know how my back would handle a landing aND such.he did tell me to talk to my surgeon who did surgery on me who I tried to contact but he is out of town for a month orver seas,I was trying to go this summer because I'm turning 40 in August

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Instructors do our best to land everyone softly and ensure nothing is uncomfortable for our passengers. Some do a better job than others due to experience, specific landing conditions for that jump, and personality/attitude (there are assholes everywhere and all humans make mistakes). Remember: we're there too and we want to have a good time and stay uninjured as much as you do!

If you told me you had a bad back before I took you on a tandem, I'd tell you 2 things: 1. You signed a (very loooong) waiver for a reason, I can't guarantee anything. 2. Skydiving is my very favorite thing. I've been doing it for (however long and however many jumps is accurate at that time), I haven't been hurt, I don't plan to get hurt, and I'll do my best to keep it that way while we're strapped together.

Then I would double check that you can get your legs up for landing so we can slide in on our butts. Legs up is the most important thing a passenger can do to help us land safely. If you can't get your legs up you are at a real risk for injury.

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Acole6357

So I've still got the itch to go tandem skydiving,I'm going to meet with a new spine surgeon next Wednesday to hopefully get new X-rays and get him to asses my back as it is now.but I need a few questions to ask him in relation to the chute opening and landing. What are some key questions to ask the new surgeon which he would hopefully be able to answer?im wanting to go before summer is over.my old spine surgeon is impossible to get a hold of so I've found one who's hopefully can help.

How far off the ground are you before you land your but off the ground?

Is there possibilities these days for something called a hard opening with the chute.as well at the sky dive center I would be using I red a review of them accommodating someone with MS.

Thanks for the replies and cheers.

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Starting two separate threads, repeatedly asking the same questions, ignoring answers you don't like, etc. all seem very much to indicate that this is simply about getting lots of attention. Time for you to grow up, take charge of your life, accept the consequences of your decisions, and look up Histrionic Personality Disorder.
If you leave the plane without a parachute, you will be fine for the rest of your life.

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I was just talking to a friend who I found out is a pro level instructor and he told me I would be fine,so I guess I'll call the sky dive center itself and see if they can accomidate me



Is the Pro Level Skydiver also a doctor whose taken several tests of your back before giving you the "thumbs up?" :S
Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

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sammielu

Instructors do our best to land everyone softly and ensure nothing is uncomfortable for our passengers. Some do a better job than others due to experience, specific landing conditions for that jump, and personality/attitude (there are assholes everywhere and all humans make mistakes). Remember: we're there too and we want to have a good time and stay uninjured as much as you do!

If you told me you had a bad back before I took you on a tandem, I'd tell you 2 things: 1. You signed a (very loooong) waiver for a reason, I can't guarantee anything. 2. Skydiving is my very favorite thing. I've been doing it for (however long and however many jumps is accurate at that time), I haven't been hurt, I don't plan to get hurt, and I'll do my best to keep it that way while we're strapped together.

Then I would double check that you can get your legs up for landing so we can slide in on our butts. Legs up is the most important thing a passenger can do to help us land safely. If you can't get your legs up you are at a real risk for injury.



Just caught wind of this post and would like to add a little from personal experience, (27 years and 8500 + tandems )
The above quote is right on the money, it is very important to remember that no drop zone guarantees the safety of the healthiest and fittest individual on earth while assisting them to experience a tandem skydive.

Two weeks ago I was part of a team of three Tandem instructors that took 20 spinal cord injured people on tandem skydives over a two day period. Although we used an assist device to lift the legs for landing, one participant broke her leg when she sat on it at the end of a high speed, zero wind landing. Having just landed prior I witnessed this landing and although the passenger didn't feel anything I recommended a Doctor's check up.
The next week I was asked to jump with an MS afflicted person, and because of very favorable wind conditions I didn't even bother using the leg assist harness.
In an activity where even the fittest person takes a risk of injury, it is unfair to a Dropzone, or an instructor to be asked to take any responsibility for the safety of a person that chooses to participate, but that said, when evaluating the jump conditions and the fitness level of the passenger the safety is due in a large part to the experience and judgement of the instructor.

Regards, B.

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Just so you really understand a ram air parachute is simply pressurized material attached to lines. In turbulence it can collapse and does at times. Landings generally are very soft and smooth however in turbulence it can be down right hard and with two people hooked together there is no way to deflect the downward energy, so yes it does happen rarely but every once in a great while you can have a hard hit to the spine on landing. Even the best instructors can not out fly turbulence, we call it drop out
Kirk
He's dead Jim

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I read your other post. It's normal to be calm before a first skydive, everyone is different.

You are doing the right thing by trying to make an informed decision and giving your instructor the opportunity to do the same. I can't say why the instructor declined to take you on that skydive, maybe the wind or weather didn't look good, maybe they were new, tired, nursing a shoulder injury, having trouble with landings, maybe you made a funny face when you told them about your back and it made them worry, maybe they are concerned about your level of fitness, maybe they really wanted any excuse to take a break and you offered them one (your back), maybe there was something else going on behind the scenes... could be you or could be anything.

RE: Leg assist device - some dz's have them, ultimately what matters for you is if the instructor taking you uses one. From what you're saying in your posts, you think you are in good physical condition (and so does your doctor) aside from your back. If you can't get your own legs up for landing without assistance, that's not a back issue, it's a physical fitness/flexibility issue and the result is: don't skydive.

Based on your posts, you are unsure about this decision and seem to be looking for someone to tell you to go ahead and skydive and that you'll be fine... and you've gotten a couple of those responses... But you're still doubting and still asking questions. I personally go by the rule that if have to ask if you should be doing something, you probably shouldn't do it. If you're not sure you should skydive using your injured back and your body, you probably shouldn't.

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Thanks Sammielu for the reply,i dont have an issue picking my legs up at all i just did not know what the leg assist was used for,but the reson im still itching to go is becuase at the dropzone where i was yesterday i saw so many easy landings,i should probably get with my doctor for X-rays.but whith the new parachutes they use is there realltly possibility for a hard opening?
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