Hi Austin and Jordan,
I recently attended one of Jordan’s Sydney workshops and am 3 weeks into the Bridge and loving it.
I ruptured my right eardrum traumatically in the surf (side of head v water) yesterday. Have seen my GP and been given what I assume is usual advice: don’t get water in my ear, review in a week, it should heal by itself within a month. He also said I should avoid the valsalva (demonstrated holding his nose and popping ears like you do when changing altitude or deep diving underwater).
Does this preclude me from doing a valsalva when squatting etc, am I likely to delay/prevent the eardrum healing by doing this? I’ve found Jordan’s advice regarding valsalva and the tips has helped me maintain tension throughout the squat and made a big difference.
Hey there. Sorry to hear about your eardrum.
It’s physiologically plausible that performing the aggressive valsalva necessary for heavy lifting could affect a ruptured eardrum, but I also 1) am not an otolaryngologist, and 2) don’t know whether there’s evidence on the matter, unfortunately.
This may be one situation where if it were me, I’d probably lay off heavy lifts with a hard valsalva and see how the eardrum looks at your 1 week follow up before making a subsequent plan.
Thanks for responding Austin. Within a couple of days I developed an infection and am now on AB’s. With the crap discharging from my ear I was able to establish (n=1) that even a light valsalva will force air/exudate through the rupture so I may heed your advice and back things off and restart the bridge down the track once it has healed.