Ankle Fusion and Diving

[Skwint]

Hi,

I've had an enforced four year break from diving due to a motorcycle accident involving a drunk in a pickup truck.

I have now just had ankle fusion meaning that in about another three months I will be able to walk again without crutches.

At the same time as the fusion was carried out the 'nail' was removed from my Tib', this means that I now have three screws and a staple in my left ankle plus two plates and eight screws on my Fib' and a plate with seven screws on my hip (the drunk did a good job).

I have many friends who are also dive pro's and who have had major surgery and have plates and screws etc (tho' not as many as me) and they dive with no problems.

I have heard all the theories about the increased risk of DCS due to the scar tissue etc. But my question is, is there any actual proof that I have an increased risk or is it all theory?

 

[Dr Deco]

Hello Skwint:

I am not aware of proven relationships between scar and DCS in recreational diving. We did have one case of a test subject who developed point pain in a sensitive knee following a dive. This knee was very tender” as it had experienced a fall from a motorcycle – along with the rest of the body. Bumping a table leg was a painful episode. This represents high sensitivity and one might guess that it would be a candidate for joint-pin DCS.

Regular, recreational diving is hard to show a relationship [low gas loads]. You have a considerable amount of trauma in that region and might really need to dive conservatively and note what happens.


Dr Deco :doctor:

 

[Skwint]

Thanks Dr Deco,

This has just re-enforced what I already suspected.

As for diving conservatively, maybe if as an instructor I restrict myself to DSD's and open water courses as well as perhaps teaching Nitrox.

 

[TSandM]

Skwint, anecdotes certainly aren't data, but there are quite a few folks who have had fractures and surgery who are actively diving without problems. I'm one of them -- I've had 23 fractures, and 7 major operative repairs, and still have four bones with a bunch of steel hardware in them. I've had no symptoms related to those areas in any of the diving I have done, and that includes a little bit of technical diving.

 

[ZenDiver.3D]

Hiya. Wow, sounds like you are lucky to be alive. I know the theory, but have no hard data about DCS cases specific to the injuries. DAN can give you much better info than I can.
I can say that my knees (both are messed up) and my shattered and rebuilt ankle have had no problems. But I am not the one to push the envelope, much less shred it.
Be conservative and enjoy.

At the risk of the inevitable barrage- with damaged ankles, you may have to change your choice of fins. After my ankle surgeries, there were several sets that worked fine, but I fell right into the dark side after trying the basic Force Fins. My ankle has not had one minute of pain since, when before, walking after diving was extremely painful, as well as the dive itself.

 

[boatbabe]

I had an ankle fusion on 7/5/12.
I'm still in the non-weight bearing stage of my recuperation but I am starting pool exercises and swimming again. Goal: Curacao in February.
What about shin fins? Their size suggests for swimming only, but has anybody used them for diving?

 

[nielsent]

In February I broke my ankle in three places that required the addition of a plate and 8 screws. after two months of recuperation I was back in the water and carrying around my double 120's without a problem. I have even completed a couple of deco dives in the last while without issues.

I was also concerned about the increased chance of DCS due to foreign objects and scar tissue. However, on a thorough search of the scientific literature there was nothing that definitive provided evidence. Now personally I don't want to be the person that discovers that evidence on myself, so I have been diving very conservatively in my profiles, and not pushing anything.

Hope that helps,

-- Travis