Posted By Bob Youel where are you located

Posted By Brian Hagyard Andy Fascinated by your posting. Was an active SCUBA diver for many years and even a professional instructor for a short time, so I am very familiar with the Valsalva maneuver (i.e. pinch your nose and blow gently to increase the pressure behind the ear drum to equal that outside the ear drum if diving under the water) but had never heard of a valsalva test. A google search seams to suggest that this involves an ECG (or is it ECM) on the heart which indicates a change when to maneuver is completed. As a diver you always "check" your own ears by gently undertaking the test on dry land. You can feel the pressure change on your ears and a reduction in your hearing, which allows you to see if you can do this when in that water. I am fascinated to know what the occupational health people actually do with this "test" to see if your life guards are "fit" to undertake the retrieval of the mannequin. Also what happens for the rest of the year - the problem with the valsalva maneuver is that if you have a cold you may not be able to effectively "pressurise your ears" as you dive down or worse release the pressure as you come back to the surface. Does this affect the ability of your life guards to undertake their duty? Please note i am not criticizing your posting just hoping to increase my own understanding of this issue. Brian

Posted By Phil By use of an otoscope, its a procedure that can be visualised, and is part of the commercial diver medical. Diver medics carry out this procedure in the case of ear barotrauma, to check for perforations etc Phil

Posted By Brian Hagyard Phil & Andy Thanks for the update. I guessed it must be something like that. My professional diving days was pre diving at work regs, and outside the UK so medical requirements were a bit different. Brian