vacuum cleft

[paolov]

especially because my back is getting worse with age..

I love the insights on this board...

Several years back, during the times when we go diving several times a week. i carry along with me two crates of diving gear.

at one time i tried to lift the two crates with wet gear (bcd, fins, wetsuits, weights, etc. i had redundant gear then) i felt a sharp pain on my lower back.

then i felt this terrible feeling of losing my strength , my knees started to buckle.

Since it was a weekend and we were diving in some tropical island (Verde Island passage) i gave my back some rest then prepared to do some dives still (Washing Machine dive site was on the list, i still do not enjoy that dive site. you could see the furious water current gushing over them crevices and the dive objective was to cross this turbulent passage.)

so anyway, ignored the pain in my back thinking it would go away.

6 months passed, yes a painful 6 months when i decided to have my backed checked. it took three sessions with the CHIROPRACTOR and viola good as new .

since then , at anytime i may have strained my back i go ASAP to the Chiropractor to straighten things out !

After that Chiro session you would feel young again !

 

[Duke Dive Medicine]

My question for you guys is more of an analytic excercise.. can the presence of a vacuum cleft in a disc cause a nerve compression when under hyperbaric conditions? Since it's a gas filled space in a minimally vascularized area is it susceptible to accumulation of excess nitrogen during a dive?

The short answer is yes. As I understand it, the vacuum cleft is not in a disk but is actually enclosed within a vertebra. Any gas-filled space in the body is subject to Boyle's Law which means that, depending on the actual gas pressure inside the cleft, it may be compressed on descent. This could displace the surrounding vertebra, with potentially catastrophic results. Another article, linked below, suggests the possibility of motion within the fracture:

Vacuum Clefts of the Vertebral Bodies

I would strongly recommend that you seek out a professional as recommended previously, and do not dive until this is resolved.

Best regards,
DDM

*edit: Spoke with of our orthopedic surgery attendings just now who noted that they can also be found in disks. Can you clarify where the vacuum cleft is? If it's in a disk, it's still subject to Boyle's Law and could cause additional neurological problems at pressure but would probably not have the effect on surrounding vertebrae that I posted about above. The advice about diving still applies IMO.