Although scuba diving is recognised as a safe sport with countless dives taking place each year without any problems, it is necessary for divers to be of reasonably good overall health for this to be the case. Due to the fact that diving requires both respiratory and cardiovascular fitness those who have any lung or heart problems are not suited to this sport.
Especially in the case of people who suffer from anxiety or panic disorder, there is an additional risk of ascending too quickly in a state of panic which may result in decompression illness, in turn requiring special treatment.
Understanding Decompression Illness in Scuba Divers
Decompression illness or 'the bends' is a very serious complication which affects scuba divers through coming up to the surface much too quickly. As identified by Dr N Jones in Travel Health (Rough Guides, 2004), when a diver ascends too fast, nitrogen and helium gas bubbles lodge in the tissues typically resulting in many symptoms within minutes or hours following resurfacing after a dive. Mild decompression symptoms may consist of skin becoming itchy and painful joints whereas more worrying decompression illness symptoms may include difficulty breathing, chest pain as well as partial paralysis and even blindness due to the neurological system being impaired.
Treatment for decompression may include emergency oxygen or ideally placing the diver in a special decompression chamber or 'hyperbaric chamber'. Whilst in a decompression chamber the diver will be given a medically supervised programme of re-compression.
How to Avoid Decompression Sickness
Due to the fact that decompression sickness is caused by ascending too quickly the key to avoiding this condition is to ensure a safe, steady ascent rate is followed. This information may be provided by a diving computer which involves wearing a small device on the wrist much like an average sports watch. As acknowledged by J Bantin in The Scuba Diving Handbook (Adlard Coles Nautical, 2007), avoiding life-threatening decompression sickness requires making regular decompression stops, leaving sensible intervals between dives and having a safety stop between sixteen and ten feet below the surface.
The reason why it is necessary for scuba divers to leave enough time on land between dives is to ensure the water is not re-entered with residual levels of nitrogen still in the body. Dehydration caused by alcohol consumption may also trigger decompression sickness so it is important to avoid alcohol before diving.
As highlighted above, scuba diving is not suitable for everyone, particularly those with anxiety issues, heart or lung problems. Decompression sickness is a real heath risk which can be avoided by taking decompression stops (using a diving computer or depth gauge) and ascending slowly.
Kate Le Page - Kate Henning-Le Page writes about eating disorders, body image and recovery issues. She specializes in anorexia recovery.
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