caisson disease

[caribbean soul]

Not really a question just an observation. While looking up another word in the dictionary I stumbled upon caisson disease, which is decompression sickness.I have never seen that term in any diving books or magazine articles iI have read.

 

[teknitroxdiver]

It came about because when workers were working in 'caissons' (waterproof 'towers' going down to the sea floor, they came straight back up to the surface after the end of their shift, and got bent. Thus, the term caisson disease.

 

[TwoBitTxn]

I have never seen that term in any diving books or magazine articles iI have read.

Read some books which discuss the history of diving. My library includes Scuba diving explained by Martin, and Beating the Bends by Brylski.

2-bit

 

[dbg40]

I believe the term originated in france, the other posts are correct. And it was actually from this that DCS was eventually understood. They had no idea what caused the workers to be "bent" over and be in pain initially, so it was just called caissons dissease. Funny stuff, kind of like "martini's" law.

 

[Dr Deco]

Hello readers:

Caisson worker's disease is an old term. “Caisson” is French for “tank” and describes the large cylinder used in tunnel digging. It was pressurized to hold back the water. Remember, when you dig a hole in the ground you very often find water; this is a “well” and is good. If, however, you do not wish a “well,” then something must be done to prevent seepage.

Seepage was prevented in about 1840 by pressurizing the caisson with air. The workers developed what we refer today as “the bends.” At the time, it was called Caisson Worker's Disease.

It was attributed to several factors:
[1] squeezing blood from the extremities by the pressure, and/or
[2] cold, damp conditions.
To combat the effects of these two, unbelievably, the recommendation was slow compression and fast decompression.

Not until the work by the French physician and physiologist Paul Bert in 1885 was it understood that bubbles of nitrogen were evolved in the tissues. Since that time, slow decompression has been the norm.

Dr Deco :doctor:

 

[Print Screen]

Hello readers:
To combat the effects of these two, unbelievably, the recommendation was slow compression and fast decompression.
Dr Deco :doctor:

My goodness! How many people must have died because of this! :06:

 

[rawls]

I think Caisson is the French word interpreted "big box" although...tank...big box...basically the same, aye J.S. Haldane was credited in 1907 for coming up with the answer for preventing the "bends" during his work with the Royal Navy and developed the first decompression tables. The bends/caisson's disease was also called the "mysterious malady".

 

[Dr Deco]

Hello readers:

Yes, “caisson” is actually French for “box.” [I looked it up.]

Paul Bert, however, was the first to suggest a slow ascent to the surface for decompression and predates Haldane. The Bert method employed a slow, linear ascent and was increasingly unsuccessful for deep dives.

Haldane suggested that a quick ascent to near the surface would prevent more gas from dissolving in the tissues. His method was safer [“stage decompression”] is still in use today.

Dr Deco :doctor:

 

[caribou]

Well not exactly, in most contexts "caisson" refers to a "caisse" small in size. But in scubadiving, "caisson" means "chamber". You would say "caisson hyperbarique" for "hyperbaric chamber".

But everyone understood most likely already what it meant, just wanted to correct that little detail ;-)

Hello readers:

Yes, “caisson” is actually French for “box.” [I looked it up.]

Paul Bert, however, was the first to suggest a slow ascent to the surface for decompression and predates Haldane. The Bert method employed a slow, linear ascent and was increasingly unsuccessful for deep dives.

Haldane suggested that a quick ascent to near the surface would prevent more gas from dissolving in the tissues. His method was safer [“stage decompression”] is still in use today.

Dr Deco :doctor: