Bent... but why?

[Zept]

Went on a dive trip last week and came home with a bent shoulder :surprise:. No permanent damage, according to my diving doctor, for which I’m very thankful. The problem is, I don’t what I did wrong.

The dives:
Day 1: Four dives
Day 2: Three dives
Day 3: Five multilevel dives (pressure groups from the Wheel)
32.3m (106ft), PG=V; SI 2:10; 21.3m (70ft), W; SI 3:09; 18.4m (60ft), R; SI 1:40; 14.3m (47ft), R; SI 1:25; 21.6m (71ft), V
Day 4: Three multilevel dives
33.7m (111ft), T; SI 2:21; 18.6m (61ft), U; SI 3:04; 13.7m (45ft), Q

On the evening on Day 4 I was sitting on my bed reading when my shoulder started to hurt. I didn’t think anything of it, because normally something hurts when I’m sitting awkwardly (I often get a sore neck sitting at the computer). When the pain spread up my neck and down my arm and over on to my back, I figured I’d pinched a nerve.

Got back into the water on Day 5 and the pain went away. It was only when it returned that evening that I started to worry. Spoke to the resort’s instructor the next morning, but by then the pain was subsiding. He said it ‘might’ be something, and to call them if it got worse. By the time I got back to Singapore, I was pretty sure it had been something, and my doctor agrees.

Looking back, I shouldn’t have got back into the water, but… I really didn’t think it was a hit. I’ll know better next time… except I hope there won’t be a next time.

We were diving hard, but… I didn’t bend my computer (a Suunto Vyper, supposed to be pretty conservative). My buddy did five dives every day, and he was deeper on the deep dives… and he’s fine. I didn’t come up too quickly, and we stopped at 5m for at least five minutes at the end of every dive. I’m 35, I’m not overweight, I’m reasonably fit, I don’t smoke, I don’t drink alcohol on dive trips, and I’d had plenty of water.

Explanations I can think of:
1) Just too much diving. My doctor thinks five dives in a day was excessive.
2) Just naturally more susceptible. I was near the edge of the table, and I know the models are only theoretical.
3) Just bad luck.
4) The reverse profile. Fifth dive on Day 3 was deeper than the third and fourth dives. Then again, I’ve read several articles that say reverse profiles are okay.
5) Exertion. After each dive I had to get off the boat and walk up the beach, wearing all my gear, and then change tanks. Kind of strenuous for a small person. Otherwise, I didn’t do anything more energetic than walking.
6) Hot showers. I did have hot showers after some of the dives, but they were brief. I can see how they might cause a skin bend, but would they cause a joint hit?

Which explanations seem more likely? Am I missing something? I’m not looking for a definitive answer (I doubt there is one), just ideas and opinions that might help me work out what I should do differently in the future.

Thanks for your input,

Zept

 

[DennisW]

Zept,

Multiple dives over multiple days put everyone at a higher risk for DCS. If you listened to your OW instructor (if he / she was a good one) you would have heard that even though you do everything right, you can still suffer from DCS. It's rare, but it happens. There are many factors that can contibute to DCS and if you go back to read your OW book they will be listed. Dehydration, fatigue, alchohol, lack of sleep, cold, physical conditioning, age, multiple dives per day, mutliple dives for multiple days,...

I am glad you are going to be OK and will get to dive again. Take care and if you dive multiple dives for multiple days, maybe sit one or two dives out. I know it's hard, but when I think I'm getting tired, I stay on the surface. I've been lucky, but then again, I am also fairly cautious, too.

 

[Uncle Pug]

Any of the dives involve exertion uw?

Sorry to hear you got bent... if that is what it was... but 5 a day might have been a little bit excessive... you must like diving

 

[Zept]

Dennis, I know that doing multiple dives over multiple days carries an increased risk, and that DCS can happen within the table limits. I just figured it was worth asking whether anyone could think of any other explanations... I'd hate to get bent again because I missed something obvious. And I'm not allowed to dive again for a couple of weeks (I'll probably wait a month), so I might as well spend some time thinking!

Uncle Pug, the first dive on Day 2 was pretty strenuous, with lots of kicking into the current. That's why I only did three dives that day... I was tired, so I skipped the sunset and night dives. In general we were going with the current and taking it easy.

The first ten minutes of the first dive on Day 4 were stressful -- not physically, but mentally. Maybe that contributed.

Zept

 

[Uncle Pug]

http://www.scubaboard.com/t5492/s.html

 

[Zept]

Have done . I've read a bunch of stuff over the last few days. Now I'm better informed, but not necessarily wiser.

One thing that concerns me is the micronuclei thing. I can reduce my nitrogen load by diving more conservatively, but I can't avoid a certain amount of exertion after the dive. My gear is not going to get up and shift itself on to a new tank without my help.

Zept

 

[padiscubapro]

Originally posted by Zept
Have done . I've read a bunch of stuff over the last few days. Now I'm better informed, but not necessarily wiser.

One thing that concerns me is the micronuclei thing. I can reduce my nitrogen load by diving more conservatively, but I can't avoid a certain amount of exertion after the dive. My gear is not going to get up and shift itself on to a new tank without my help.

Zept

Your profiles appear pretty agressive for someone not switching to a High FO2 mix to help offgassing.. What you aren't stating is more important though.. what was the depth and time of you safety stops, with the profiles you are running they are quite important.. one thing I can recommend is make the last 10ft/3m an extremely slow ascent, 1 minute at least better yet make it 2... if I am deco diving I Always have all my decos completed by the 20ft/6m stop, on non deco dives I do a 3-5 minute safety stop on all deep dives, then for all dives I take at least 1 minute to get to 10 ft then pause for 1-2 minutes then take a minute or more from 10 ft to the surface... the ascent time depends on the surface conditions..
The final part of the ascent is the most important.. the slower the better...
The comment about gear.. don't be in a hurry to change your gear over, do it after some SI.. the highest bubling varies but its somewhere between 15 minutes and 45 minutes after exiting the water. Relax, drink some water then get ready for the next dive..

 

[Zept]

Originally posted by padiscubapro
What you aren't stating is more important though.. what was the depth and time of you safety stops, with the profiles you are running they are quite important.. one thing I can recommend is make the last 10ft/3m an extremely slow ascent.

We stopped at 5m (15ft) for at least 5min at the end of each dive. I aim to keep the final ascent in the 2-4m/min range.

I've ordered the PC interface for my dive computer so I can download the profiles and look at them in more detail.

Zept

 

[DennisW]

My comments were intended to remind you that even though you study your dives that preceded the incident, you may never figure out what exactly caused the problem. Other than multiple dives over multiple days and having some physical stress during some of the dives increasing the risk factors, it seems like you did everything right. Maybe looking at your profiles on the PC will give you some insights. It would be interesting to know if you discover anything that would help the rest of us out. I appreciate your posts and would appreciate any follow up information that will help us all understand more about diving.

 

[Liquid]

I think you'v answered your own question!

Enough reasons up there in your message to give it a good explanation.

As for reverse profile- there is something that must be cleared here, becouse people do not understand the mechanics of the tables- When diving on tables (with maibe the exeptance of the new RGBM tables, which I havent seen yet) a reverse profile is a BIG NONO!!!! I can explain deeply the reason, but I'll skip it for now. When diving computer, reverese profile is ok. that's about it.