The Bends is an illness that arises from the rapid release of nitrogen gas from the bloodstream and is caused by bubbles forming in the blood and other tissues when a diver ascends to the surface of the ocean too rapidly. It is also referred to as Caisson sickness, decompression sickness (DCS), and Divers’ Disease.
What happens if you get the bends?
Bubbles forming in or near joints are the presumed cause of joint pain (the bends). With high levels of bubbles, complex reactions can take place in the body. The spinal cord and brain are usually affected, causing numbness, paralysis, impaired coordination and disorders of higher cerebral function.
At what depth do you get the bends?
Nitrogen narcosis symptoms tend to start once a diver reaches a depth of about 100 feet. They don’t get worse unless that diver swims deeper. Symptoms start to become more serious at a depth of about 300 feet.
What does getting the bends feel like?
Numbness and weakness: If gas bubbles get trapped around the spinal cord, you can develop numbness, tingling, and weakness in your arms or legs. Some people also experience back pain, trouble with bladder control, or even paralysis.
Why do scuba divers get the bends? – Related Questions
Can you avoid getting the bends?
Diving conservatively and ascending slowly are effective ways to reduce your risk of the bends. That said, it’s possible to make the same dive 99 times without issue, and on the 100th dive experience decompression sickness.
Can you survive the bends?
Prognosis or outlook of people who develop the bends varies with the following factors: Prognosis is good with hyperbaric oxygen treatment. Delay to hyperbaric oxygen treatment: Although reports show that divers can do well after days of symptoms, delay in definitive treatment may cause damage that is irreversible.
How do you know if you have the bends?
Symptoms of DCS
- Unusual fatigue.
- Itchy skin.
- Pain in the joints and/or muscles of the arms, legs or torso.
- Dizziness, vertigo and ringing in the ears.
- Numbness, tingling and paralysis.
- Shortness of breath.
How long does it take to get over the bends?
Onset
| Time to onset |
Percentage of cases |
| within 3 hours |
60% |
| within 8 hours |
83% |
| within 24 hours |
98% |
| within 48 hours |
100% |
1 more row
How serious are the bends?
Decompression sickness (DCS), known as ‘the bends’ because of the associated joint pain, is a potentially deadly condition caused by bubbles of nitrogen gas forming in the blood and tissues. It’s most common among divers using scuba tanks, but can affect free-divers and people at high altitude.
Can you get the bends in shallow water?
All dive instructors learn that decompression illness (DCI) can occur even in shallow water.
Can you get the bends in 20 feet of water?
It’s exceptionally rare for the bends to occur in water shallower than 30 feet (9.1 m), so don’t panic if you haven’t been taking decompression breaks on the shallow dives you’ve completed in the past. If you’ve never had symptoms before, you have nothing to worry about.
Why don’t free divers get the bends?
Decompression sickness (DCS) after freediving is very rare. Freedivers simply do not on-gas enough nitrogen to provoke DCS. Thus, very few cases of DCS in freedivers have ever been reported, and these have involved repeated deep dives in a short time frame.
Can you get the bends in an airplane?
The longer the duration of the exposure to altitudes of 18,000 ft. and above, the greater the risk of altitude DCS. There are some reports indicating a higher risk of altitude DCS with increasing age. There is some indication that recent joint or limb injuries may predispose individuals to developing “the bends.”
Why can’t you scuba dive before flying?
The main concern with scuba diving and flying is decompression sickness. As you must know from your scuba certification course, your body needs to have adequate time during an ascent to off-gas excess nitrogen or you can form bubbles in your bloodstream, possibly leading to DCS.
What happens if you scuba dive then fly?
When flying after diving, the ascent to altitude increases the risk of decompression sickness (DCS) because of the additional reduction in atmospheric pressure. The higher the altitude, the greater the risk.
Why can’t you fly after scuba diving?
Ascending to high altitude after scuba diving increases your risk of suffering from decompression sickness. Flying after diving increases this risk because of the decreasing atmospheric pressure.
Who should not scuba dive?
“If you can reach an exercise intensity of 13 METS (the exertion equivalent of running a 7.5-minute mile), your heart is strong enough for most any exertion,” he says. You also need to be symptom-free. If you have chest pain, lightheadedness or breathlessness during exertion, you should not be diving.
Do your lungs shrink when you scuba dive?
As external pressure on the lungs is increased in a breath-holding dive (in which the diver’s only source of air is that held in his lungs), the air inside the lungs is compressed, and the size of the lungs decreases.
What not to do after scuba diving?
8 Things You Should Never Do Immediately After Diving
- Flying After Diving. Flying after scuba diving is one of the more widely known risks to divers.
- Mountain Climbing.
- Ziplining After Diving.
- Deep Tissue Massage.
- Relaxing in a Hot Tub.
- Excessive Drinking.
- Freediving After Scuba Diving.