Stick in the Ear?

Anyone receive a stick in the ear while hiking and rupture your ear drum? Happened to me coming down Tabletop. While descending a section backwards I turned my head to look for footing and "poke" it went in, a small spruce branch, and it is true that you can force air out your ear by holding your nose a pushing, a very wierd feeling!!!

Rotting toe nails and sticks in the ear.....where will it all end???

Is this what you looked like when you got your ear poked?

Who was it that shared the story about getting a stick up her butt while hiking?

I have gotten a stick caught and twisted in my hair to the point where it just wouldn't come out while on the trail...I left it in and got some very strange looks...with a mirror and diminishing patience, I was able to remove the offending twig and celebrate its removal with a tiny little funeral pyre...

So how is your ear??

...Jade

jade said:

Who was it that shared the story about getting a stick up her butt while hiking?
...Jade

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Alright, that's way more than I wanted to know.
Just kidding Jade


Man, that's gotta hurt! Seen the Dr. Yet? How long's that take to heal?

num num num said:

Anyone receive a stick in the ear while hiking and rupture your ear drum?!!!

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It hasn't happened to me but I have heard of it happening to others.

num num num said:

is it true that you can force air out your ear by holding your nose a pushing, a very wierd feeling

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I believe physiologically it is possible but, I am no doctor. Remember, you can equalize pressure in your ears from altitude changes by swallowing.

Keith

jade said:

Who was it that shared the story about getting a stick up her butt while hiking?

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If that was my story, it was a he...

An XC skiing crash--he happened to land on some sticks hidden in the snow. One of them poked through his clothing and into his anus. Minor injury--just a scratch, but it made walking (and perhaps sitting) uncomfortable for a while...

He wasn't even bushwacking--it happened on one of the trails at Bretton Woods.

Doug

num num num said:

it is true that you can force air out your ear by holding your nose a pushing, a very wierd feeling!!!

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AFAIK, this is only possible if your eardrum is ruptured.

The eustachian tube connects from the throat to the middle ear (behind the eardrum). The eardrum separates the middle ear from the outer ear.

Disclaimer: while I am not an authority on the human ear, I have studied it because my work has been related to human hearing.

Doug

My specialty!

It's not often that my occupation coincides with the world of hiking. But, I'm an audiologist and I have seen folks for this very reason...a sharp stick to the ear. And if you can force air out through your ear when plugging your nose you have ruptured your eardrum. You should keep all water out of your ear. I would recommend you check in with your doctor and have it looked at. Normally a hole in the TM (tympanic membrane) will heal on it's own. However, it could also get a little ugly with infection so best to have it checked out. Or, if you're more conservative with the doctor visits I'd at least recommend heading to the doc if you can still breath through your ear a week from now!

How's your hearing? Any effect on that? Good luck.

jen

num num num said:

is it true that you can force air out your ear by holding your nose a pushing, a very wierd feeling!!!

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Oh crap. I didn't know you meant actually leaking out of your ear when you apply pressure. If you have a "leak" then like Toe Cozy says get thyself to a doctor. She should know. This is a bad thing. Like she said. The tympanic membrane shouldn't have a hole in that you can pass air through. This needs to be checked.

Not that it needs to be reinforced by me because an audiologist told you this. And of course DougPauls physical description is spot on also.

Keith

Toe Cozy said:

How's your hearing? Any effect on that? Good luck.

jen

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Huh, speak up........lol, yes my ear healed fine and the doc found no part of the twig behind my tm, this was over a year ago, just wanted to see if i was the only cluts, looks like i am

jade said:

Who was it that shared the story about getting a stick up her butt while hiking?
...Jade

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I believe that was our very own skimom . . . that was a funny story.

sli74

I got a rip in my hikin' pants -- in the crotch. When I went on the Carrigain Pond Bushwhack, I got a stick in the cubes. It hurt like hell! Luckily just a scratch -- I didn't wanna be pickin' them up off the ground. Never took a shot like that there before. Got the errant hockey puck when I was a kid but never a stick -- never a scratch like that. Scary.

When bushwhacking, the thought of a stick up the butt is no laughing matter. Frequently crossing messy blowdown. One slip and you could fall on a stick protruding from the downed tree and you'd have a major problem on yer hands. Luckily it has never happened to me.

-Dr. Wu

Oh my, something else to watch out for in the backcountry!

dr_wu002 said:

I got a rip in my hikin' pants -- in the crotch. When I went on the Carrigain Pond Bushwhack, I got a stick in the cubes. It hurt like hell! Luckily just a scratch -- I didn't wanna be pickin' them up off the ground. Never took a shot like that there before.
-Dr. Wu

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You got off easy. Years ago, while hiking with a couple of guys, we encountered a stile to cross an electric fence. It was neither built nor positioned well. The first guy crossed and promptly yelped as his, as you say, cubes, were zapped. I crossed without mishap. The second guy didn't learn by example and also got zapped.

It was a cattle fence, too (stronger current)

What, no photos???

Scarey thought

I shrudder at the thought of getting my eardrum pierced (I have had sticks go in just about everyu other bodily oriface.

Being such an airhead, I'd be afraid that my head would collapse if I would get my eardrum pierced.

Dugan said:

as you say, cubes,

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That is the technical term.

Dugan said:

You got off easy. Years ago, while hiking with a couple of guys, we encountered a stile to cross an electric fence. It was neither built nor positioned well. The first guy crossed and promptly yelped as his, as you say, cubes, were zapped. I crossed without mishap. The second guy didn't learn by example and also got zapped.

It was a cattle fence, too (stronger current)

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Um, were they hiking naked? The pants I wear are pretty tough. My cats climb all over them and I don't feel their claws digging in. Same with branches. But this one just got in the hole (in the stitch) and scratched me up a bit.

You can bet I wouldn't have been that second guy.

-Dr. Wu

dr_wu002 said:

I got a rip in my hikin' pants -- in the crotch. When I went on the Carrigain Pond Bushwhack, a stick in the cubes.
-Dr. Wu

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Well.......how bout the Red Sox.....guess my ear isnt a problem...

Boy, this is a weird thread! Funny, entertaining, but weird. I LOVE it!

predelictions

May a Bird of Paradise fly up your nose. What was that from?

The cowboy song is bout a cheap bas*%^#d....don't think the song ever caught on, but that one quote did....'May the bird of paradise fly up your nose, may an elephant caress you with his toes.....' it's not unlike saying I hope you get run over by a train....
...Jade