Jumping into no win, no fee claims head first

Extreme sports, from hang gliding and rock climbing to extreme ironing and ice climbing, are becoming increasingly popular but although they can be dangerous, no win, no fee claims aren't necessarily a given after an accident.

Today, so many people are stuck slogging their guts out in dull offices that don't even have any windows and they are sick of looking at the same people day in day out. They are looking for a bit of excitement and life experience and if launching themselves off bridges while attached to an elastic cord is the road they want to go down then so be it. More and more people are taking the plunge and trying their hand at bungee jumping but it isn't necessarily the safest pastime.

Medical research has shown that the heart rate, blood pressure and cortisol levels, which are all indicators of stress, rise significantly in novice jumpers just before a jump. These should all decline rapidly after the jump but failure for this to happen could put the body in serious distress. Bungee jumps can lead to a range of personal injuries such as headaches, dizziness, blurred vision, neck and back injuries. It has even been known for people to meet their death after being attached to cords longer than their jump distance and for people doing tandem jumps to be killed as their bodies collide on impact.

There are a number of things that could go wrong when you are attached to a glorified piece of string. The bungee cord is under maximum stress and at its most vulnerable once you have jumped, reached the bottom of your jump and are ready to rebound and this is when a break is most likely.

Most bungee jumps take place over water and if the cord were to break when you were over the water you would fall head first and have a matter of seconds to prepare yourself and try to avoid the chance of personal injury as much as possible.

Straighten out your legs and body, put your feet together and point your toes

Tuck your chin into your chest and don't look at the water as you will run the risk of black eyes, whiplash and spinal cord injury

Point your arms out as if you were diving

Enter the water fists first to break the surface tension of the water

Spread your arms and legs to slow you down after entering the water

Swim back to the surface and signal whether you are OK or whether you need medical assistance

While some very serious personal injuries can be sustained as a result of bungee jumping, no win, no fee claims for personal injury compensation may only be sought in certain circumstances.

That is, no win, no fee compensation may be sought if you were not secured properly to the bungee cord or you received inadequate instruction and the company you were jumping with was found negligent of breaching any health and safety legislations. However, if you were to incur injury purely as a result of taking part in the sport and not following instruction carefully then you may be unable to make a compensation claim.

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