AOW with cracked rib

[movieflick]

I cracked my rib, well the cartilage on my rib, 1 week ago. I am scheduled to do my AOW class on Sep 28 29 and 30. Does anyone have thoughts on diving with this type of injury? 4 weeks should be good enough to heal but so far the pain hasn’t went down much. Besides pain can there be any complications that I am failing to recognize? I am doing my dives at blue hole NM so it is a low risk dive environment. I asked the DOC and he said no way but he is not a diver himself so he might be erroring on the safe side.

 

[TwoBitTxn]

Doc said no. Get a medical from him stating you can't dive from him and ask to reschedule. Once you heal, go back, get a release and dive happy.

Best wishes on healing well. Let it heal.

 

[movieflick]

Dang I was hoping that wouldn't be the case. He did say if I had no pain at all for 5 days prior to diving I might be ok. That was after he said no way and I complained. So I have to figure out some way to make the pain go away for 5 days the week of the call

 

[pir8]

Don't be so impatient. Do the class later after you have healed. How about giving your instructor a heads up that you might be putting everyone else in the class at risk cause you want to dive while you are injured and he might have to divert his attention to rescueing you instead of his class.

 

[cudachaser]

You are going to hurt! I've dove with a cracked rib...actually taught classes that way. Fully inflating the BC felt sooo good

 

[TSandM]

I've dived with a cracked rib. It isn't fun. If you're a very comfortable and rather experienced diver, so that you're not going to have anxiety compounded by pain, I doubt there's any major risk to it (especially if it's the costal cartilage that's injured). If you're pretty new, as most people are with AOW, I wouldn't do it. You certainly don't want to end up in a situation where pain interferes with your judgment or your ability to stay calm.

 

[spectrum]

Dang I was hoping that wouldn't be the case. He did say if I had no pain at all for 5 days prior to diving I might be ok. That was after he said no way and I complained. So I have to figure out some way to make the pain go away for 5 days the week of the call

I gotta love your enthusiasm but use your head will you.

Think about it, first you are going to hang big bunch of gear on your body including a BC that needs to fit your torso snugly and then will exert force when used, especially if it's a jacket. Even though you consider this to be benign dive site you never know when you will need to do "whatever it takes" and that is no time to be impaired.

It looks like it will be a dry weekend for me, nursing a sniffle so you won't be alone.

Pete

 

[movieflick]

You are going to hurt! I've dove with a cracked rib...actually taught classes that way. Fully inflating the BC felt sooo good

Did you give all your students the heads up that you were putting them all at risk of imminent death because you might have to rescue yourself instead of watching them?


Just kidding, I was poking fun at pir8.


Just for the record I would never dive with any condition that my instructor and or buddy did not know about. That would be extremely irresponsible.


The reason I am considering diving at all is because I go through my Step-daughters school and it is a 3rd of the price of what the dive shops charge. The only hold 2 classes a year. One is a fall class and one late spring / early summer class. If I can't make this class then I have to wait a year or pay full price.


If I am feeling better the week of the class I will hit the pool for a few sessions to make sure I can manage all the equipment safely. I am thinking if I can get my skins on the rest will be cake.


I appreciate everyone’s input and advice. I hope it is all a moot point and I am healed up but if not I will have to take everything into consideration before proceeding with the class. The instructor might just say no way you have to sit this one out then it doesn’t really matter what I think.

 

[Mako Mark]

I have taught classes wih four broken ribs and it is not fun, the waist strap made it excruciating.

I like your idea of jumping in the pool for a session or two just before the class. If you feel fine, do it, if it is painful, wait untill you heal more.

 

[archman]

The reason I am considering diving at all is because I go through my Step-daughters school and it is a 3rd of the price of what the dive shops charge. The only hold 2 classes a year. One is a fall class and one late spring / early summer class. If I can't make this class then I have to wait a year or pay full price.

Jeez, they must be seriously overcharging for that class, if you wanna dive with a bum rib to get that discount. It hurts me just thinking about how you're ityparty: gonna feel.