Very painful opening and canopy ride

[Hendo 0]

Hey folks,

I'm a total newbie (just finished AFF and did my first solo) and I'm worried that I wont be able to continue skydiving. The problem is that the straps on both student containers that I've used leave huge painful bruises on my inner thighs. I mean like HUGE, black, purple, yellow, nasty bruises that last for weeks. The opening is painful but the canopy ride is excruciating! I'm 200lbs and I've jumped a 280 and a 260, the 260 seems a bit better but still kills me.

So is just something that I have to get used to until I get my own gear? Is personal gear that much more comfortable? Any advise to help make the student gear more comfortable?

Thanks

[xpug 0]

FWIW, I had this also on my AFF and so have many, many others (try a search on this forum).

As soon as I bought a rig that was measured for me, it was a whole different experience - no more bruises or chaffing from the leg straps.

Student rigs need to accommodate many shapes and they may not have the padding available on custom rigs, so there is not much you can do to mitigate an ill-fit.

If you have loose leg straps, suggest to tighten them so that they are more snug, plus check they are still snug and the same length each side before exiting as they can ease out on the ride up.

[dragon2 0]

xpug

If you have loose leg straps, suggest to tighten them so that they are more snug, plus check they are still snug and the same length each side before exiting as they can ease out on the ride up.

That. Make sure your legstraps are quite snug. Remember you do need to get blood to your toes
And if you're a guy, make sure your package is out of the way, a loose legstrap + hard opening might make some bruises seem like nothing...

Your instructor should be able to help you with correct fitting.

If the rig is on the longish side for you, you also can get those bruises, although 200 lbs is really not on the small side. Perhaps these rigs have adjustable laterals and you can fit them better, again ask your instructor.

If the fit is as good as it's gonna get you can also consider wearing some more clothing; layering some sweatpants or similar.
Personally I tend to get chafing and bruises when wearing jeans so I never do, I stick to leggings, sports underwear etc.

Also getting some video of you opening might help, you may not be slowing enough after tracking or open head-low or something, which could cause harder openings. Again, ask your instructor.

ciel bleu,
Saskia

[Anachronist 2]

Good input from the other two.

Yeah student gear sucks, when I got my first rig (used and a bit too small for me) my reaction was "I didn't even know rigs could be this comfortable."

They make inner thigh padded compression shorts/underwear that might help, but I don't know if the padding goes high enough into the groin to really help.

I'll 3rd the legstraps, get them as far up into your groin as you can and make them a little uncomfortably snug, then before exit, push them up into your groin a little more.

I've seen slip on leg pad protectors too that seem to have a good bit of padding, did a quick Google search and found these by UPT, you might give them a call and see if they can hook you up with some with extra padding. They slip on and off, so you could use them on student gear.

[FlyingRhenquest 1]

I got a variety of bruises all throughout AFF and coaching, including a couple that sound like what you're describing. Even on student gear, it stopped happening so much once I got used to the whole deployment process. I'm not entirely sure what exactly I changed -- if it was how I was fitting the leg straps, how I was flying the deployment, or what, but it did stop happening.

After I got my own rig -- a Mirage with the extra leg strap padding, it stopped almost completely. I still get a small bruise on my arm every once in a while if I have a badly off-heading opening, but I never get them on my legs anymore.

I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

[RopeaDope 0]

I weigh 240. My first several jumps were about as pleasant as being trampled by a bull. Chances are that the student gear you are using has one or more of the following issues that can lead to rougher openings- worn out PC, worn out slider, harness doesn't fit you very well, line set out of trim, break line shrinkage, little or no padding on the leg straps. You are also likely to not have the best body position during your opening sequence.

Getting your own gear will fix a lot of that stuff, and experience will improve your body position. You can also talk to the packers and your instructors about helping you get softer openings by rolling the nose cells or psycho packing.

When I got my first canopy, I had to psycho pack it because I sucked at pro packing. It turns out that with my pilot that gives me the softest opening, so even after I jumped the slipperiness out of it, I never went back to pro packing.

[DanG 1]

Shortly after my wife started jumping she had a regular doctor's appointment. After getting undressed he said, "You know I have to report this." It took her quite a while to convince the doctor that she acquired the bruising in her groin area from skydiving.

- Dan G

[tred 0]

jeans underneath jumpsuit helped me with padding. but yea student rigs suck

[London86 0]

I've been jumping a 260 Navigator all the way up until this weekend, when i got downsized to a 230. I weigh 205lbs.

However, i'm now jumping a Javelin Odyssey rig with a Sabre 2 230. The comfort of wearing that, and the opening of the parachute is soooooo much better.

Although i did slightly panic when no one told me the parachute would take around 3-4 seconds longer to fully inflate than the navigator and thought i had a streamer malfunction.

[Kiwiskydiving 0]

I used to get some bruising early on my jumping career, especially if I make multiple jumps in a day. It goes away rather quickly though, I don't remember feeling it after 10 or 15 jumps.

My skydiving blog: www.kiwiskydiving.com /// youtube channel: kiwiskydiving

[pchapman 261]

FlyingRhenquest

Even on student gear, it stopped happening so much once I got used to the whole deployment process. I'm not entirely sure what exactly I changed -- if it was how I was fitting the leg straps, how I was flying the deployment, or what,

Good point. In addition to plain old crappy student gear (worn harnesses and hard opening canopies), there may be something to the jumper's actions too, but I don't have a handle on it either. Students tend to have leg straps tightened up super tight (either by them or instructors), which might make bruising harder. Opening in a nice stable position in the harness probably helps too (compared to students rolling slightly or pitching head down, which makes the opening feel worse).

I'll guess that another useful thing is being able to dearch a bit earlier in the sequence -- One ends up in a dearched sitting position anyway, and an experienced jumper doesn't need to hold the arch quite as long during the extraction sequence. So instead of taking more of the opening right in the crotch or through the buckles into the groin, a more experienced jumper can have the legs swung more forward earlier, and take more of the force on the back of the legs & butt.

(Edit to add non-essential anecdotes : I've heard various people relate their tales of bruising to me. Whether it is the girl at her gynac or just coworkers seeing arm bruises, they have to fend off questions about whether things are OK at home, whether social services or the cops need to be called...)

[mathrick 2]

Swinging the legs forward on opening has all kinds of wonderful properties. I learnt it in a flight1 course, and it's not only helpful in mitigating a slightly harder opening, it also makes it much easier to avoid line twists.

"Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."

[riggerrob 558]

I disagree.
Keeping your legs arched (backwards) during most of the opening will improve stability ..... and reduce the number of line twists.
I learned that lesson - the hard way - during my first few wing-hit jumps.

We have heard this complaint (bruised thighs) from dozens of junior jumpers. We suspect that most of those bruises are caused by leg straps slowly sliding down (towards knees) during the plane ride, then rapidly sliding up the thighs during opening shock. The best way to avoid bruises is the ensure that leg straps are riding high in your crotch just before exit.

The best person to teach that "3 of 3s check" is the same local instructor who helped you adjust your harness just before boarding the plane.

[mathrick 2]

I think we might be talking about two different things. The idea is not that you dearch before opening, but that as you feel the canopy start to inflate and sit you upright, you can help it by bringing the knees in a little bit at first (to minimise the rotational inertia the canopy has to fight), then making a wide swing with your legs up high (kicking yourself in the forehead, if you will). Since twists are generally the result of the light canopy moving in directions that are ad odds with the inertia of the heavy jumper, you can minimise them by going along with what the deployment would do to you anyway and minimising the resistance the deployment forces encounter.

"Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."

[Hendo 0]

Thanks everyone for the advise. It's nice to know that I'm not alone in my experience. I'll talk to my instructor and make sure my leg straps are high and tight before exiting. I hope to get my own rig ASAP, I'm in the market for a complete system so let me know if you guys hear of any suitable set ups.

[Deimian 43]

Regardless of how well this might or might not work, giving this advice on Internet doesn't seem to be a good idea. Image a newbie sees it and goes like "Last opening hurt, I am gonna move forward my knees now during opening to minimize that". They do, and got a slammer on their fast-opening student canopy, while jumping their non-freefly friendly rental rig, which doesn't fit them properly. Now, all the force of the slam goes downward, with their butt at the same height as their knees, and as a result they partially (or totally) slide off of their harness. All because of a misunderstood advice on Internet.

[peek 20]

riggerrob

We have heard this complaint (bruised thighs) from dozens of junior jumpers. We suspect that most of those bruises are caused by leg straps slowly sliding down (towards knees) during the plane ride, then rapidly sliding up the thighs during opening shock. The best way to avoid bruises is the ensure that leg straps are riding high in your crotch just before exit.

I agree Rob, and I think this is the only good answer. To do this well, a person may even need to pull their leg straps up into your crotch AND tighten them again in the airplane.

I would think that most instructors are telling their students to not do that, but rather to leave them alone, "because we took care of that on the ground", and "you don't want to cut off circulation" (very, very unlikely.)

I personally like my legstraps very tight, and to do that I must tighten them further in the airplane while kneeling. Moving to the door from a sitting position is a good way to have the legstraps fall down (to some degree).

P.S. The above assumes that if a student rig has an adjustable main lift web, that someone knows how to properly adjust it. If the main lift web adjustment is on the short side, the leg strap will feel tight in relationship to the entire rig, but will not be tight encircling the student's leg.

[shorehambeach 9]

Hendo

Same happened to me. This sport is a big shock to the body and mind so theres a lot going on.

The bruising (for me ) was caused by fitting my legs straps very very tight so I felt secure as i didn't want to slip out of the harness under canopy

Student gear sucks but thats all part of of the learning curve when entering and learning this sport.

Your body adjusts to this big change and you wil find you adjust and things become more comfortable.

There are creams that directly reduce bruising - in the UK its Arnica cream - get the US equivalent as they work well.

When you progress and choose a rig then you'll know how important it is to have padded and well fitting legs straps.

Stick at it and get you A.

[PeteW 0]

I flew a solo 270 student rig and I'm 210lbs. One rig would open harder than the other. But when I purchased my own gear with a Safire 2 the bruises went away. It opens so nice and smooth!

[Hendo 0]

Got in a couple of solo jumps the other day on the 260. It still hurt on opening and on the ride down but not as bad as before. As of now I only have a small bruising and minimal soreness. Not sure what's different, maybe better body positioning on opening or I'm just getting used to it. Anyway, I can't wait to get my own rig that fits perfectly. Thanks again to everyone for the advise.