Underwater

[schneefink]

I have very sensitive ears, and from late fall to early spring I basically never leave the house without a headband to cover my ears because I tend to get earaches as soon as it gets even slightly cool and windy. As a kid for several years every time I went swimming I got middle ear inflammations, which was not fun. (It finally stopped after my mother got me homeopathic pills, which means she still struggles with "I know scientifically homeopathy is bullshit but it worked.") I still got pretty bad earaches when I got water in my ears, so I only swam with earplugs, which are very hard not to constantly lose in the water. It wasn't that much fun, and I was never the most enthusiastic swimmer, and when I swam I mostly made sure to try and keep my head above water. (Also I don't really like swimming in pools, I much prefer natural bodies of water.)
Last year I decided to try swimming on my back without ear plugs on a whim, and my ears only hurt a little. So this summer I suddenly thought that hey, maybe I could try breaststrokes like you're supposed to, with my head below water. I'm still struggling somewhat with my breathing, and I'm sure the rest could also be improved, but today I swam with my head down the whole length of the water and back - with short breaks in between - and afterwards my ears didn't hurt at all. Maybe I grew out of it? Idk, but I'm glad, and now looking forward to maybe learning some proper swimming techniques. I just watched a few Youtube tutorials so next time I will probably overthink everything and end up with way too much water up my nose again.

Comments

[dhampyresa]

What tutorials are you watching?

Re: ear issues, could they have been caused by the chlorine in pool water?

[schneefink]

Just the first few videos that came up when searching "proper breaststroke technique" (I'm definitely open to recommendations if you have any.)

No, I always mostly swam in natural water and had the same issues.

[michelel72]

I never learned to swim the "proper" way and always keep my head above the water (unless I'm briefly ducking under), but most of my "swimming" has just been messing around in the backyard pool when I was a kid.

Fingers crossed that your ears remain pain-free.

[schneefink]

If there weren't natural water near my parents' place I'm sure I would go swimming only very rarely. I only really appreciated that luxury once I moved away.

One of them hurt a little this morning, but fortunately not for long.