Why no WARM UP when diving?

[manni-yunk]

btw, neat user name (says another from the Philly area).

Thanks - I lived in Manayunk and own a few rentals there and my last name is Manni.....so it works out.



Boat names have also always been manni-yunk

Im always surprised, even locally, at what a conversation starter the boat name is.

 

[pantheraba]

Yep, now you are talking more in my direction...wish I had been in leisurely warm water diving lately...but most of my diving these days is PSD which can be pretty strenuous. But even when I am only vacuuming my son's pool I stretch out first...it's part of my prep routine.

 

[TSandM]

I get some degree of warmup by carting scuba gear around, and getting to the water . . . but, except in a few really unusual situations, I have NEVER had to do anything I considered significant exertion in the water. Going through a warmup and stretching regimen to float around and look at fish seems like major overkill.

 

[Damselfish]

Not everyone even agrees that diving is a "sport," let alone "sport you need to warm up for." I suppose it can't hurt, but I've never seen the need. If anything, I'd think a warmup would usually be more useful for for carting of gear, or maybe donning an uncooperative wetsuit, than the actual dive. If something comes up during the dive I'll certainly be warmed up by then.

 

[shawrg]

i am interested in the scientific response to your question. Personally, when I feel stiff, and I usually do, I will do a few stretching movements.

 

[Dr Deco]

Hello manni yunk:

The only problem with exercise that I see is the increase of blood flow. Normally, this would not be a problem for most activities. In diving, however, it leads to an increase in inert gas uptake. Nitrogen is of no consequence in activities other than diving.

If performed a few hours before diving, exercise might be beneficial for biochemical reasons.

As mentioned here for many years, exercise during the offgassing period is not good as it increases DCS risk, possibly through the formation of tissue micronuclei.

Dr Deco :doctor:

 

[manni-yunk]

I get some degree of warmup by carting scuba gear around, and getting to the water . . . but, except in a few really unusual situations, I have NEVER had to do anything I considered significant exertion in the water. Going through a warmup and stretching regimen to float around and look at fish seems like major overkill.

Would it be fair to say that not all diving is floating around and looking at fish. What if most of your local diving, if not all, involved strong currnets, spearfishing, lobster hunting, digging and salvaging for "trinkets" - As does much of the diving in the NE. Although some, probably many, people do just float around - but not my crouwn of dive buddies.

When tropical - Sure. But up here - not so much.

 

[manni-yunk]

Hello manni yunk:

The only problem with exercise that I see is the increase of blood flow. Normally, this would not be a problem for most activities. In diving, however, it leads to an increase in inert gas uptake. Nitrogen is of no consequence in activities other than diving.

If performed a few hours before diving, exercise might be beneficial for biochemical reasons.

As mentioned here for many years, exercise during the offgassing period is not good as it increases DCS risk, possibly through the formation of tissue micronuclei.

Dr Deco :doctor:

So do the potential benefits that I listed have offset the risk associated in the increase in inert gas uptake? I guess thats the question.

And remember - Im not talking about true aerobic excercise - but a warm up as performed before any practice, game, gym session, etc.

BTW - I fully recognize that I may be way off base here. But Ive never been involved in something that could be potentially strenuous that a warm up wasnt emphasized - so I was just trying to understand if the same benefits might apply here - or - be negated by other factors.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

I don't think you can directly extrapolate the benefits of warming up in other sports to scuba diving. Diving is unique in that there is DCS risk.

Read Doc Vikingo's article on exercise and diving. It's a nice summary of some of the recent scientific studies on the subject.

If you review the scientific literature, you'll see a few studies that investigate the effects of pre-dive and post-dive exercise on Doppler-detected venous gas emboli in divers. Although the results are not quite conclusive (at least one dissenting study) and they exclusively look at "strenuous" exercise, they suggest that there may be some increased DCS risk in exercising within 4-6 hours of beginning a dive. Based on these findings, the prevailing opinion regarding DCS risk for recreational no-deco dives is that strenuous exercise occurring 12-24 hrs before the dive is protective, strenuous exercise 4-6 hrs before the dive is probably harmful, and exercise 6-24 hrs post-dive may be harmful given a high nitrogen load. One possible explanation for the "bad" pre-dive interval is that vigorous musculoskeletal activity expands the population of micronuclei which persist for approx. 2-5 hrs. That's a bad thing to do right before a dive. Admittedly, our knowledge about all of this stuff is far from complete.

The theoretical danger to a diver who "warms up" before a dive is that he may exercise too vigorously, pump up the number of micronuclei and, in so doing, increase his DCS risk. For this reason, it might be better just to do some light stretching (to prevent muscle pulls), restrict activity to very light exercise (walking, moving gear around, etc.) and relax a little before the dive.

On a related note, some studies have looked at the effect of aerobic fitness on intravascular bubble formation in divers. The consensus appears to be that a diver accustomed to a higher of physical activity (aerobically fit) will have fewer bubbles than a diver with lower activity, all other things being equal.

Synthesizing this and other info...
In order to minimize DCS risk, the scuba diver should be a physically fit individual who exercises regularly, paying particular attention to aerobic exercise. He should exercise about 12-24 hrs before a dive to access the "protective" effect (nitric oxide mechanism?), avoid vigorous activity leading up to the dive, minimize activity during the bottom nitrogen-loading phase, conduct light exercise during the ascent phase, and avoid strenuous physical activity up to 24 hours post-dive.

If divers are maintaining a healthy level of physical activity and aerobic fitness, scuba diving really should be on the "less physically demanding" end of the work-out spectrum. Unfortunately, I suspect that, for many divers, that isn't the case.

 

[manni-yunk]

I don't think you can directly extrapolate the benefits of warming up in other sports to scuba diving. Diving is unique in that there is DCS risk.

Read Doc Vikingo's article on exercise and diving. It's a nice summary of some of the recent scientific studies on the subject.

If you review the scientific literature, you'll see a few studies that investigate the effects of pre-dive and post-dive exercise on Doppler-detected venous gas emboli in divers. Although the results are not quite conclusive (at least one dissenting study) and they exclusively look at "strenuous" exercise, they suggest that there may be some increased DCS risk in exercising within 4-6 hours of beginning a dive. Based on these findings, the prevailing opinion regarding DCS risk for recreational no-deco dives is that strenuous exercise occurring 12-24 hrs before the dive is protective, strenuous exercise 4-6 hrs before the dive is probably harmful, and exercise 6-24 hrs post-dive may be harmful given a high nitrogen load. One possible explanation for the "bad" pre-dive interval is that vigorous musculoskeletal activity expands the population of micronuclei which persist for approx. 2-5 hrs. That's a bad thing to do right before a dive. Admittedly, our knowledge about all of this stuff is far from complete.

The theoretical danger to a diver who "warms up" before a dive is that he may exercise too vigorously, pump up the number of micronuclei and, in so doing, increase his DCS risk. For this reason, it might be better just to do some light stretching (to prevent muscle pulls), restrict activity to very light exercise (walking, moving gear around, etc.) and relax a little before the dive.

On a related note, some studies have looked at the effect of aerobic fitness on intravascular bubble formation in divers. The consensus appears to be that a diver accustomed to a higher of physical activity (aerobically fit) will have fewer bubbles than a diver with lower activity, all other things being equal.

Synthesizing this and other info...
In order to minimize DCS risk, the scuba diver should be a physically fit individual who exercises regularly, paying particular attention to aerobic exercise. He should exercise about 12-24 hrs before a dive to access the "protective" effect (nitric oxide mechanism?), avoid vigorous activity leading up to the dive, minimize activity during the bottom nitrogen-loading phase, conduct light exercise during the ascent phase, and avoid strenuous physical activity up to 24 hours post-dive.

If divers are maintaining a healthy level of physical activity and aerobic fitness, scuba diving really should be on the "less physically demanding" end of the work-out spectrum. Unfortunately, I suspect that, for many divers, that isn't the case.

Good answer and Thank You!