Subject 5 articles
Diving Medicine
Diving medicine covers what pressure and breathing gas do to the human body. Most diving injuries are preventable, and knowing how they happen is the best protection you have.
Articles in diving medicine
- Decompression Sickness
How "the bends" happens, what it feels like, first aid and prevention.
- Ear Equalization and Ear Barotrauma
Why ears hurt on descent, the equalizing techniques and how to avoid injury.
- Flying After Diving
The 12 and 18 hour guidelines, why cabin pressure matters and driving to altitude.
- Nitrogen Narcosis
Why depth makes divers feel drunk, the signs, and how to manage it.
- Oxygen Toxicity in Diving
Why oxygen has a depth limit, the 1.4 and 1.6 bar rules and maximum operating depth.
What diving medicine covers
Breathing compressed gas under water changes the body in ways that don't happen on land. Gas spaces such as the ears, sinuses and lungs are squeezed and stretched as pressure changes. Gases dissolve into the blood and tissues faster at depth and come out again on the way up. Some gases that are harmless at the surface affect the brain or lungs when breathed at high pressure.
This subject explains the conditions every diver hears about in training. Ear equalization covers the most common diving injury of all, barotrauma of the middle ear. Decompression sickness explains what happens when dissolved nitrogen forms bubbles. Nitrogen narcosis describes the dulled judgment many divers notice around 30 metres. Oxygen toxicity explains why even oxygen has a depth limit. Flying after diving gives the widely used waiting times before a flight.
Prevention comes first
Nearly every condition in this subject is prevented by the same habits: dive within your training, plan and follow your no-decompression limits, ascend slowly, make a safety stop, equalize early, stay hydrated and rested, and don't dive when you feel unwell. The physics behind these habits is explained in scuba diving physics.
Fitness to dive
Training agencies ask new divers to fill in a medical questionnaire, and some answers mean a doctor must sign you off before you dive. Conditions that affect the heart, lungs, ears or consciousness need particular care. A physician who knows diving medicine can give advice that a general doctor may not. Dive emergency organisations such as DAN (Divers Alert Network) also run medical information lines for divers.
If something goes wrong
Symptoms after a dive should be taken seriously, even if they seem mild. The usual first aid for a suspected diving injury is to lay the diver flat, give the highest concentration of oxygen available, call emergency services and contact a dive emergency hotline, which can arrange treatment in a recompression chamber. Don't try to treat symptoms by going back under water.
This wiki is a general reference. It is not medical advice, and it can't diagnose or treat anyone.