North Panhandle News

Of all the inspiring Olympics stories and successes, no doubt one of the most fascinating is that of Lizzy Yarnold, 2014 and 2018 gold medalist in women's skeleton. 

Yarnold has dealt with sinus problems for years, but in 2018, it was beginning to affect her performance on the world's largest stage: the Winter Olympics. Through top-notch treatment and breathing exercises, Yarnold was able to overcome and win gold in 2018 in her final Olympics. 

Sinus issues particularly affects high-level athletes that perform in the cold. 

"If you've ever driven in the mountains or ever flown on an airplane, you can probably recall when you're going up in altitude or coming down in altitude, your ears will feel stuffy and your hearing is down," Dr. Matthew Blair of Gulf Coast Breathe Free Sinus & Allergy Centers told Panhandle News. "Then all of a sudden, your ear will pop and you'll feel like, 'Oh, I can hear so much better' and everything is back to normal."

However, not everyone feels that when they are in changing altitudes. This is indicative of sinus problems. 

"Well, people who have eustachian tube dysfunction, they don't get that opening and they always feel like that even at regular altitude," Blair continued. "It's just a plug sensation in the ear, and that is when the eustachian tube doesn't work. Over a long period time, it can be pretty detrimental to the eardrum itself, and you can develop things like chronic infections in the ear from it."

According to Healthline, eustachian tubes are small tubes that run between your middle ears and the upper throat. They are responsible for equalizing ear pressure and draining fluid from the middle ear, the part of the ear behind the eardrum. The eustachian tubes are usually closed except for when you chew, swallow or yawn.

Yarnold's sinus issues were caused by an inner ear issue. For Olympic athletes, this can be crippling to their performance. 

In the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, the defending women's skeleton champion had struggled in the season leading to the Games, but she set a new track record in the first run. Affected by the middle ear disorder, which had impeded her season, she had a mediocre second run, but a strong slide brought her back to second, and only two hundredths of a second off gold after the third run. In the fourth run, she established a significant new track record, thereby becoming the first double Olympic champion (male or female) in the history of skeleton, and the first woman to win multiple medals.

Acute sinusitis is mostly caused by the common cold. Unless a bacterial infection develops, most cases resolve within a week to 10 days. Home remedies may be all you need to treat acute sinusitis. Sinusitis that lasts more than 12 weeks, despite medical treatment, is called chronic sinusitis.

Those who believe they may be suffering from sinus problems can take a Sinus Self-Assessment Quiz .