Does Diving Hurt?

Does Diving Hurt?

Short Answer

A good entry can hurt if you're up high enough due to impact. But a bad one really does.

That may seem sort of obvious but there's more to it than what meets the eye.

Why a clean entry could hurt

If you go in vertically with your hands stacked, arms locked, and your body in one narrow line, you make a small hole in the water and pass through it. The water parts around you. It's loud and fast and then you're under.

The catch is that when you are up on the 10 meter platform, the impact is so violent that even if you do everything right, the force going through your body can sting (on your hands) and/or send a lot of force through your joints.

Why a bad one hurts (duh)

When you land flat, you're asking a large area of water to move all at once and it won't move so easily.

That's a smack, and it stings immediately across whatever hit. The diver will have red skin, bruising or welts that appear.

A smack from any height could really hurt. I've seen dives from 10 meter that looked bad but te diver was mostly okay, and I've seen absolute wrecks on 1 meter that take divers out of practice.

The most important aspect

Here's what I'd actually tell a parent asking this question.

The dramatic smacks are not how divers get hurt. They sting and leave a short term mark, but they cause more mental load than physical.

What stops a diver from succeeding when it comes to smacks or the pain of diving is how they've built it up in their brain.

The best thing to do is to reinforce good form and technique for entries and talk about smacking in a positive way. 

Obviously there is a limit to this, because too much smacking is not good for anyones body and hitting your head on the water can cause concussions.

So while we want to create an environment where smacking is celebrated for trying something hard, we don't want to push divers so much that it is a regular occurance.

What good programs do about it

The difference between a program that manages diving related pain and one that doesn't is large. Look for programs that:

  • Build new dives through drills, lead-ups, and out of the pool with trampolines/dryland boards
  • Are training into bubbles so a bad attempt lands soft (if available)
  • Do strength work or activation for divers to reduce over use injury.

Other things you're probably wondering

- DG

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