Broken leg..and DCS ??

[Manogr]

Hmmm...

My girlfriend, and dive buddy, had a small accident in a stair and as a result he hurt her leg in the upper area and at the beginning of the middle fingers...(sorry I don't know the exact terminology).. she did NOT break any bones but she can't walk without pain...

She is not diving now but we are planing to dive as soon as she walks normally again :walking: . The problem started when a divemaster / instructor that we know told us that when we will go to dive he will make a call to the "chamber department" of a hospital to ask if she should add more decompression time in her profile ! I asked him why and he told me that he had some cases of broken legs in the past and they were not allowed to dive for 6 months because of Nitrogel load etc (?). Of course my girlfriend does not have such a serious problem but I am worried... Generaly I would like to know if such accidents (u know broken legs, hands etc) affect diving in any way

Any thoughts ??

Manogr

 

[Dr Deco]

Dear Monogr:

I cannot comment on the medical aspects of this but can say that DCS does not appear to occur in injured areas more frequently than noninjured ones. That said, however, if a portion of the body this is currently sore it would mask evidence of DCS. This would not be the case here, since you said she would not dive until the limbs have healed.

People are generally suspicious of injured portions of the body because the blood flow may be hindered from the injury or from some inflammation. This might have been present in the cases described by the dive master. I can certainly imagine that someone might suggest extending the safety stops to assist with gas washout. How this might be calculated, I do not know.

Let us see if some of the readers have any experience with this aspect of diving.

Dr Deco:doctor:

 

[Manogr]

Dear :doctor: ,

Thank you for your answer... You always are a great source of info !!

... I guess that the only think we can do is set the computer into the most conservative setting and dive far less than tables readings while adding more deco stops...

Moreover I guess that I should feel more confident for the instructor mentioned since he wants to be sure about everything !

Anyone with experience about the problems mentioned ?