burst ear drum

Recently two of my ridding buddies have burst/displaced there ear drums on hard crashes. They claim that it's a pain in the ass and that it hurts for quite some time. I was wondering if this is a common thing cuz i fear that its only a matter of time til i smack the water jus right and burst mine.

Wear water ear plugs.

Busted mine last year. It is a pain. It took mine 3 weeks to heal. Now I try to fall face first instead of turning my heads sideways.

They're not lieing. I ruptured mine Saturday (2 days ago) pretty painful stuff. (hurts like hell right now) I've broken many bones, like hands and ribs... but for some reason a ruptured ear drum is worse than all of that. I have pretty bad ears, they rupture pretty easy. The worst part is, I lose my balance like crazy.... My life jackets has saved me a couple times...

i busted mine liek 2 weeks ago but ya they hurt and suck cuz it was nice when i couldnt go but wear a helmet with like earpads

My girlfriend ruptured her eardrum yesterday.....says it hurts like nothing ever before. We went straigh to the doctors and he gave some ear drops to prevent infection(lake water's always dirty). She WAS wearing a helmet with ear protection. I would hope that this helped prevent further damage. It just goes to show, with or without a helmet, you can still rupture a drum. I still vote for the helmet, I crashed extreme yesterday and have a major brain ache today....that was with a helmet. I would hate to have taken that fall without one.