Exercise after being at 2 ATA for 90 minutes

[eelpout]

My question is diving (dry) related. If I was an Inside Attendant for a Hyperbaric Chamber treatment for 90 minutes at 2 ATA (33 fsw) how long would I should I wait before being able to safely work out (run, lift weights, yoga, etc) in the gym? The questions has come up and I need medical basis information for your answers because the people asking questions are medical professionals.

Thanks in advance,
Jim Campos

 

[DocVikingo]

Hi Jim,

In short, by the time an inside attendant got to the gym s/he could work out without concern.

Under conditions of customary hyperbaric O2 chamber treatment, there is no inert gas loading incurred. Any increases in O2 loading in healthy individuals is negligible and returns to baseline extremely quickly once normal atmospheres/ambient O2 concentration is restored.

Regards,

DocVikingo

This is educational only and does not constitute or imply a doctor-patient relationship. It is not medical advice to you or any other individual, and should not be construed as such.

 

[TSandM]

I'm a little confused. I know our local multi-place chamber pressurizes the chamber with air, and the patients breathe O2 through a mask. That means the chamber attendant would be exposed to elevated ppN2s, no?

 

[DocVikingo]

I'm a little confused. I know our local multi-place chamber pressurizes the chamber with air, and the patients breathe O2 through a mask. That means the chamber attendant would be exposed to elevated ppN2s, no?

Good point, TSandM. We need to know that.

In the meantime, while the ambient pressurized atmosphere in multiplace chambers is normal air with patients receiving 100% oxygen through a hood/mask/endotracheal tube, it is not unusal for chamber attendants to breathe O2 through a mask to prevent DCS.

Cheers,

Doc

 

[Duke Dive Medicine]

Good point, TSandM. We need to know that.

In the meantime, while the ambient pressurized atmosphere in multiplace chambers is normal air with patients receiving 100% oxygen through a hood/mask/endotracheal tube, it is not unusal for chamber attendants to breathe O2 through a mask to prevent DCS.

Cheers,

Doc

Inside attendants at our facility breathe O2 on decompression from our treatments but typically breathe chamber air during treatments (except as delineated in the Navy Diving Manual during a DCS treatment). I don't know of any inside chamber attendants who breathe O2 during the entire treatment. If our full-time nurses did that consistently they would be subject to the effects of long-term use of hyperbaric oxygen, e.g. cataracts.

Best regards,
DDM

---------- Post added November 25th, 2013 at 02:31 PM ----------

My question is diving (dry) related. If I was an Inside Attendant for a Hyperbaric Chamber treatment for 90 minutes at 2 ATA (33 fsw) how long would I should I wait before being able to safely work out (run, lift weights, yoga, etc) in the gym? The questions has come up and I need medical basis information for your answers because the people asking questions are medical professionals.

Thanks in advance,
Jim Campos

Jim,

The concern about exercise after diving is related to intrapulmonary shunting of venous gas emboli. It's unlikely that you'd have any VGE after a 33'/:90 dive so in all likelihood you'll be fine. I regularly run 5 or so miles immediately after 33' chamber dives and I've never had a problem.

Best regards,
DDM

 

[DocVikingo]

Inside attendants at our facility breathe O2 on decompression from our treatments but typically breathe chamber air during treatments (except as delineated in the Navy Diving Manual during a DCS treatment).

And the purpose of that is to avoid the presence of a worrisome inert gas loading at the time of termination of a session? And under this protocol any increases in O2 loading in healthy individuals is negligible and returns to baseline extremely quickly once normal atmospheres/ambient O2 concentration is restored?

Regards,

Doc

 

[Duke Dive Medicine]

And the purpose of that is to avoid the presence of a worrisome inert gas loading at the time of termination of a session? And under this protocol any increases in O2 loading in healthy individuals is negligible and returns to baseline extremely quickly once normal atmospheres/ambient O2 concentration is restored?

Regards,

Doc

Hi Doc,

Even without O2 on decompression the inert gas loading would likely be minimal. Our 2 ATA/2 hour treatment has a "bottom time", so to speak, of 135 minutes since we take 15 minutes to get to pressure. No need to tell you that this is well within the no-stop limit for 33 fsw, but our inside tenders do use O2 on decompression for extra conservatism. Re "O2 loading in healthy individuals": the arterial pO2 typically returns to baseline a few minutes after surfacing. Did you mean to say N2 here?

At any rate, I think maybe I read your second post wrong; it looked like you were saying that inside chamber tenders breathe O2 on the bottom right along with the patients and reading your more recent post I'm guessing that's not what you meant.

Best regards,
DDM

 

[DocVikingo]

Thanks for clarifying my intent, DDM.

BTW, I tosssed "Any increases in O2 loading in healthy individuals is negligible and returns to baseline extremely quickly once normal atmospheres/ambient O2 concentration is restored" into the mix (sorry) as I was unable to discern if the OP was worried about N2 or O2 levels, or both.

Cheers,

Doc

 

[Dr Deco]

Hi eelpout:
If you loaded nitrogen in the chamber, I would guess that four hours would easily be long enough for the small residual nitrogen to be released. That would not be enough nitrogen to pump up any micronuclei and cause DCS.