Cramp and lower back pain

[Rebecca]

Hi, after and occasionally during diving (only got as far as pool so far, I'm a trainee Ocean Diver) I tend to get cramp in my feet, and sometimes pain in my lower back. I've heard that this could be due to my feet/fins being too bouyant. I've tried ankle weights and these do make some difference, but can anybody suggest anything else, a more neutrally bouyant set of fins perhaps?
TIA

[steveowens]

Hi Rebecca,

Are you sure your fins are not too big? if they are this could account for cramp in your feet due to unconciously curling your feet to keep them on. Also if your legs/ankles are heavy you are probably arching your loer back to hold your legs/feet up when finning.
I suggest you try another pair of fins, ditch your ankle weights and practice a finning technique that so that when you are lyinging prone in normal diving position instead of your legs just sticking out behind you they form a gentle V with your knee at the lowest point and ankles/ backside on same line as your body. this when viewed from the side.
Hope this helps.. oh and check the ammount of weight you have on most divers especially new comers have far too much weight on their belts. If you need the weight your wearing try moving some of it off you belt... perhaps to the cam strap of your BC this does two things, firstly stops the weight belt pulling you from your BC and the added weight to the BC helps it sit down on your back.... remember to keep sufficient weight on your belt so that you can gain positive buoyancy when ditching it.

Steve Owens

Hi, after and occasionally during diving (only got as far as pool so far, I'm a trainee Ocean Diver) I tend to get cramp in my feet, and sometimes pain in my lower back. I've heard that this could be due to my feet/fins being too bouyant. I've tried ankle weights and these do make some difference, but can anybody suggest anything else, a more neutrally bouyant set of fins perhaps?
TIA

[rich]

Hi, after and occasionally during diving (only got as far as pool so far, I'm a trainee Ocean Diver) I tend to get cramp in my feet, and sometimes pain in my lower back. I've heard that this could be due to my feet/fins being too bouyant. I've tried ankle weights and these do make some difference, but can anybody suggest anything else, a more neutrally bouyant set of fins perhaps?
TIA

It could be that you are putting your body through motions not normally undertaken, so you will pick up the odd touch of cramp. If its your feet that feel floaty, you could try adjusting the cylinder, ie move it down, so theres a little more weight in the lower half of your body. More weight may not be needed on the belt.
good luck.

[Jeanne]

Cramps are normally associated with a lack of oxygen to the muscle against the work demanded of it, and this may well be due to many factors: Overwork of the muscle, lack of fitness against effort demanded, and all the previous postings remarks are equally valid. Get your instructor to check your weighting, your finning technique, and your fins. Get fitter too if that's an issue. For what it's worth, I used to get incredibly painful cramps in my toes, calve muscles and often as you do, lower back pain after diving until I got fitter, and shed several kgs off my belt, and experimented with the height of my cylinder, as I became more experienced, but I still occasionally experienced these cramps and back pains. I find ankle weights help, but only with a drysuit. What I can say however, visiting a chiropractor 2 years ago with a bad neck, and finding out that my spine alignment was something far from being desired, with a serious tilt in my pelvic bone, and consequently one leg 1/2" longer than the other may have had something to do with the problems! Regular adjustments have made me 'normal' again, and I can honestly say I don't have any of those problems now!

Not that I am suggesting you should consult a chiropractor at all, but I just wanted to mention that my problem was solved partly with improved technique and fitness, and partly by making me 'straight' again!

Good luck

Jeanne

[steve swift]

I have found in the past that tight fitting fins are the most likely cause of cramp in the feet when you first start, though as someone else has indicated it can also come from lack of fitness/ practise in swimming with fins reducing blood flow to the feet and calf. Or possibly a combination of both, as tight fitting fins can cause the blood vessels feeding the small muscles of the foot to be squeezed, and so reduce the amonunt of blood getting to them.

With regards to the back: One of the most common problems with all divers is that when in the prone position (or even kneeling) they let their tummy sag downwards (or forwards in kneeling). This makes the lower back arch and compresses all the structures at the back of the spine which can cause pain. Of course this is made worse when you then add on a weightbelt round the waist which makes it even easier for the tummy to sag.

You can try working your tummy muscles to keep you hips up - you should feel like you are sticking your bum up in the air (although in reality you will probably be straight - it is just your body thinking that the sagged position you were in beforehand was normal ie straight). This will feel unnatural and even be difficult to do, but if you want to protect your back , especially when you do open water dives with extra weights around the waist, you should persevere.

Some stomach exercises will help you strengthen the stomach muscles and give them stamina so that they can do this for the duration of the dive, and back strengthening exercises will help protect the structures in the spine generally, such as when lugging the heavy equipment around. Ideally you want to work the deep core muscles as well as the superficial muscles that you do when doing conventional gym exercises (though conventional sit ups and dorsal raise exercises are better than none) You may need to see a specialist for these sorts of exercises ie physio/ osteopath/ pilates instructor/ gym instructor

Longer term, you might want to look at ways of redistributing your weights, such as harness weight belts, integrated weight/ BCD, or as I saw at Stoney yesterday, weights on cylinder strap of the BCD.

This being said, although I am a gym instructor, sports therapist and student osteopath, and have sonme experience in this area I have not assessed your injury personally. There could be underlying problems, and if the pain and cramps persist, you should get them checked out by someone who can assess your problems face to face.

HTH
Steve

[Peter Greenfield]

Hello Rebecca. I can?t add anything else with regards to you suffering from cramp in your feet. But one thought I had about your back ache...my girlfriend [ and buddy ] has her own 12 litre dumpy, if she has to hire another tank for a second dive,
they are always standard 12 litres and she always gets back ache.

All the best.

Pete.