{"id":4985,"date":"2026-04-13T09:10:23","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T07:10:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/voorjeoor.nl\/what-to-do-about-ear-pain-after-diving\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T13:25:59","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T11:25:59","slug":"what-to-do-about-ear-pain-after-diving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/voorjeoor.nl\/en\/what-to-do-about-ear-pain-after-diving\/","title":{"rendered":"What to do about ear pain after diving?"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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For many people, diving is a wonderful way to explore the underwater world, but sometimes the fun can be spoiled by annoying earache. When you swim underwater, the pressure and weight of the water cause the eardrum to be pushed inwards. You will perceive this change as a feeling of pressure or, sometimes, as pain due to the nerves located in the eardrum (MUMC+, 2025<\/a>). <\/h2>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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How the Eustachian tube regulates pressure in the ear<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The body has developed a mechanism to maintain equal pressure in the middle ear, and that is the Eustachian tube. The middle ear is a sealed space, but it is connected to the Eustachian tube, which is sometimes open and sometimes closed. This tube can open to equalise small differences in pressure within the middle ear (MUMC+, 2025<\/a>). When you swallow, yawn or actively push air from your nose into your ears, the Eustachian tube opens, allowing pressure differences to be equalised. This is also known as clearing your ears. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Equalize your ears after diving<\/strong><\/h2>After diving, your ears will have experienced significant changes in pressure. To equalize your ears, you can try swallowing or yawning. It can sometimes help to chew gum or blow up a balloon, so that air escapes into your middle ear. A targeted and effective method for this is the use of Otovent<\/a>, which allows you to introduce air into the middle ear in a controlled manner to normalise the pressure. If the Eustachian tube fails to normalise the significant pressure difference after diving, the mucous membranes and blood vessels of the ear become damaged, a condition known as barotitis. If the pressure difference between the outer and middle ear is so great that the eardrum ruptures, this is referred to as barotrauma (S. Cornwell, 2020<\/a>). \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Advice for divers with earache<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Please note: if the pain persists or is accompanied by hearing loss, dizziness or discharge, consult a doctor to rule out more serious damage (Symptoms and Treatment, 2026<\/a>). < 2 >By practising equalisation techniques, you can learn to protect your ears more effectively. It is understandable how frustrating and painful earache after diving can be, so you should not delay in taking action. This will ensure you can quickly return to enjoying your next diving adventure safely and pain-free. <\/p>\n

If you experience earache after diving, it is important to stop diving immediately for the rest of the day and possibly the rest of the week, so as not to put any further strain on your ears (Symptoms and Treatment, 2026<\/a>). As a beginner diver, you shouldn\u2019t let this put you off. It\u2019s simply a matter of getting used to it and learning how to equalise your ears properly. Once you\u2019ve got the hang of it, you can get back to enjoying all your diving adventures to the full (Symptoms and Treatment, 2026<\/a>). <\/p>\n

By being mindful of pressure changes and equalising, diving becomes easier on your ears. Using effective techniques and aids such as Otovent helps to reduce discomfort and support recovery. This way, diving remains enjoyable for everyone. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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If you\u2019d like to find out more about diving, such as what you need and where you can dive, then do take a look at www.wereldduiken.nl<\/a>. There you\u2019ll find detailed information about diving, stunning dive sites and blogs written especially for divers. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For many people, diving is a wonderful way to explore the underwater world, but sometimes the fun can be spoiled by annoying earache. When you swim underwater, the pressure and weight of the water cause the eardrum to be pushed inwards. You will perceive this change as a feeling of pressure or, sometimes, as pain […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4984,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/voorjeoor.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/voorjeoor.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/voorjeoor.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voorjeoor.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voorjeoor.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4985"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/voorjeoor.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4985\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4988,"href":"https:\/\/voorjeoor.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4985\/revisions\/4988"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voorjeoor.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/voorjeoor.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voorjeoor.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voorjeoor.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}