Dizziness during flip turns

A few days ago one of my swimmers (development squad) was getting dizzy during flip turns, so I thought I should find out what was the reason behind his dizziness. Probably a few of you (especially if you are novice swimmers) would have experienced the same problem. There are two main reasons that can cause you nausea during a flip turn in swimming (be sure that your technique is good because thinking about any of these two reasons).

One is the increased concentration of carbon dioxide that makes you feel tired after a few minutes of your training. This can be caused by holding your breath during your practice (unless you are quite unfit; then you have to practice to improve your fitness levels). If you also tend to hold your breath during the flip turn, it will make things worse. Remember to exhale slowly from your nose, to avoid water getting into your nose and cause you discomfort.

The other reason is about lack of practice. My squad does not practice very often (only once or twice per week) because our facility is closed for the past seven months, so I think this is the reason of my athlete’s dizziness. Back to the lack of practice issue, in the deep inner ear there are three semicircular channels that are partially filled with endolymph. At the bottom of each channel there is an endolyte organ that is highly sensory for any movement of the endolymph in that channel. These sensors are the ones that help you with the upright position and with balance. What happens to you when you do a flip turn is that the endolymph moves, the endolytic sensors register and you feel dizzy. If you want to learn more about balance anatomy, read this article from the Medicine Net site (http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=21685).

A few tips that will help you avoid the nausea feeling during your flip turns are to hold your head still and look at a fixed point (preferably your knees), try to improve your flip turn technique and make them as smooth as possible, and try to avoid any unnecessary movement. Eventually this dizziness will diminish as you practice. If you still have nausea problems consult your physician.

Image source: [1]