Surfing Waves

So I got a lot of water jammed up into my sinuses from a session over the weekend and spent the next two days with a splitting headache. I was awakened by severe pain in my sinuses in the wee hours of the morning today. I got up and blew my nose even though I wasn't congested. I could feel a pressure release way up in my sinuses that helped relieve the pain somewhat, and about an hour later I was finally able to get back to sleep. Woke this morning with no more pain and no more headache but it still feels like I have some swelling up in the sinuses.

Is this a common thing with surfing?

Aside from wearing a nose plug while surfing which would be very uncomfortable, are there solutions to this problem?

I've read up a little about a neti pot and I'm considering getting one to flush out the sinuses after a weekend session.

Hello spectrefish,
I guess you could get a sinus infection from bacteria in the water while surfing. I usually find that the salt water helps clear out my sinuses, not plug them up. Maybe check your water quality for bacteria levels before surfing. The Surfrider Foundation's Blue Water Task Force gives us a monthly check here in Oregon on our water quality, so you could look into something like that.

The neti pot is a good way to go, make sure the water you use is boiled and cooled down to slightly less than blood warm add salt and use as instructed.
If you have had a broken nose and the septum or nose bone is bent give it timeto work.

Surfers are famous for involuntarily draining their entire sinuses as a gift from the ocean in all sorts of social occasions.
It is usually a great surprise to everyone including the surfer.

jaffa1949 wrote:The neti pot is a good way to go, make sure the water you use is boiled and cooled down to slightly less than blood warm add salt and use as instructed.
If you have had a broken nose and the septum or nose bone is bent give it timeto work.

Surfers are famous for involuntarily draining their entire sinuses as a gift from the ocean in all sorts of social occasions.
It is usually a great surprise to everyone including the surfer.

After i have gone surfing and taken a beating to tha face i know there is water up there. I will shake my head side to side and up and down then blow really hard. Some of the water comes out, the rest is a welcomed suprise

If you do that there is a risk of damaging your eardrums

jaffa1949 wrote:Surfers are famous for involuntarily draining their entire sinuses as a gift from the ocean in all sorts of social occasions.

This has happened to me on several occasions. My wife has also come to expect that it's just something that will happen after I'm done surfing. She no longer gets grossed out.

Nettie pots can be great, had to laugh think inhaling an onion I know you meant the smell ( I Hope)!

Use Neti-Pot just before going for surfing that clear your sinuses and can reduce down the pain upto some levels so that you can surf easily. Apart from that you can take apple cider vinegar steams on a regular basis. Massaging your sinus pressure points will also help in reducing down the pain and inflammation.