Children and Pressure

[ozziworld]

My 12 year old recently got cerified and was wondering if there are issues related to pressures from ging diving that affect growth and other health issues.

Any input or advice would be much appreciated.

 

[ronbeau]

My 12 year old recently got cerified and was wondering if there are issues related to pressures from ging diving that affect growth and other health issues.

Any input or advice would be much appreciated.

See the PM that I sent to you.

There was a good atrticle in the August 2008 issue of Dive Training magazine.

I also saved the following (not sure of original source)

Diving Medicine FAQs
Bone Considerations in Young Divers
Q:
Our 12-year-old daughter has shown a great deal of interest in learning to dive and as a family, we have just experienced an introductory dive at our local dive shop. At our daughter’s recent physical exam, her pediatrician expressed some concern for her bone growth and scuba diving. It seems there are many youngsters involved in diving. Should we be concerned for our daughter’s growth and development if we decide to allow her to dive?

A:
There are no conclusive epidemiologic studies that examine diving and the effects of bone growth among pediatric divers. Many physicians trained in diving medicine feel it may be prudent for adolescents to wait until an age when long-bone growth is complete before considering diving.
In general, the concern is focused on the possible formation of micro-bubbles in the bloodstream of all scuba divers. We often call these ‘silent bubbles’, which fail to produce any detectable symptoms, but are known to be present in the bloodstream of many divers. No one knows to what extent these bubbles could form in younger divers. Theoretically, these bubbles may obstruct blood flow in nutrient vessels to the epiphyseal plates, also called growth plates. This process may cause focal areas of avascular necrosis or angular deformity to the developing weight bearing long bones, particularly the femoral head, distal femur, and proximal tibia
Young divers should stay within the guidelines of the junior divers program. This will limit their exposure to nitrogen, by restricting depth, time and number of dives as well as allowing for maximum surface intervals to promote nitrogen off gasing. Although the concern is theoretical, conservative dive practices are recommended for junior divers.


Also, see this article by Doc Vikingo

Doc Vikingo's Children & Diving


I thought I also had some other references. It has been a long day and I think my body is telling me it wants me to leave the computer and head in the general direction of bed :shocked2:

 

[Gene_Hobbs]

Here are some abstracts from the UHMS annual meetings on children:

A CASE OF RECURRING NEUROLOGIC DECOMPRESSION ILLNESS: OR IS IT?
Worth, Patel, and Freiberger. 2005 UHMS Abstract
RRR ID: 1685

Treatment of Diving Accidents in a Pediatric Population in Hawaii, 1983-2003
Smerz. 2004 UHMS Abstract
RRR ID: 1543

DIVING WITH CHILDREN: REVIEW OF EXPERIENCE REPORTS AND OPINIONS - AMSTERDAM EXPERT MEETING 02 AND GENEVA ROUNDTABLE 03.
Wendling. 2004 UHMS Abstract
RRR ID: 1598

DIVING FATALITIES INVOLVING CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS: 1989-2002.
Caruso, Uguccioni, Ellis, Dovenbarger, and Bennett. 2004 UHMS Abstract
RRR ID: 1599

Children and Diving: Yours, Mine and Ours.
Taylor. 2004 UHMS Abstract
RRR ID: 1550

CHILDREN TREATED FOR DCI AND PULMONARY OXYGEN TOXICITY.
Ambriz, Abarca, and Torp. 2003 UHMS Abstract
RRR ID: 1352

 

[diver 85]

My 12 year old recently got cerified and was wondering if there are issues related to pressures from ging diving that affect growth and other health issues.

Any input or advice would be much appreciated.

Here's my wife & I's experience(s)-----and OUR's ONLY...........We have 3 children, the oldest certified @ age 14(1985), the other 2 when they each turned 12 Y.O.('89 & '93) on their birthdays(July and June respectively)......All were making 80'+ dives almost from the very beginning, the youngest to 80' the 1st week after certification in Grand Cayman....All are of normal size and weight as adults and the oldest & youngest were valedictorian of their h.s. classes......The youngest is also a fairly good golfer presently carrying a 0.7 hdc(almost scratch).......The middle child is an instructor in diving with presently over 5500 dives, and the oldest is just an ordinary(haha) house wife that enjoys recreational diving.......

Now saying all this, all 3 were certified by the same instructor(IOO, a VERY good one) and the youngest could NOT wait till his 12th birthday to get certified........

BTW, I have no idea what "ging diving" is, please explain.........good luck...

 

[ozziworld]

sorry, typo. Meant 'going', typed 'ging'

Glad to hear from you. Thanks for the feed back.

 

[ozziworld]

Will check out the info various people submitted. The 'bone growth concerns' were what prompted me to post this thread. Although my daughter is tall for her age 5'-9", my concern was not actual growth but perhaps some kind of weakening or lack of strength as the bones grow due diving related pressure. I will go over the information and hope I don't have to limit my daughter's diving because of issues.

 

[ronbeau]

Will check out the info various people submitted. The 'bone growth concerns' were what prompted me to post this thread. Although my daughter is tall for her age 5'-9", my concern was not actual growth but perhaps some kind of weakening or lack of strength as the bones grow due diving related pressure. I will go over the information and hope I don't have to limit my daughter's diving because of issues.

You could check with DAN to see if any more recent studies have been done that have not yet been widely distributed.

While I have not found anything totally conclusive, I have chosen to err on the side of caution. I felt that having my daughter postpone deeper dives until after she turned 15 seemed like a very small price to pay to avoid the potential risks.

She has a NAUI Junior Advanced certification which has the same limitations as PADI. My research started as a way to understand the reasoning behind the limitation.

It sounds like in both our cases the limitations had their intended effect (encourage the parents to follow the recommendation or do further research to better understand the reasons for the limitation.).

 

[Gene_Hobbs]

I hate to dig out the month old thread but we added these today:

Vandenhoven G, Collard F, Schamp E. Children and diving: medical aspects. Eight years’ sports medical follow-up of the first scuba diving club for children in Belgium. SPUMS J 2003; 33: 70-73. RRR ID: 7774

Cvitanovich, A, Langton, P. Children and diving: a paediatric perspective. SPUMS J 2003; 33(2) (Editorial) RRR ID: 7775

Davis FM. Decompression sickness in a 14-year-old diver. SPUMS J 2003; 33: 75-76 RRR ID: 7776

Assessing children’s fitness for scuba diving. SPUMS J 2003; 33(2) (Letter to Editor, Medical Journal of Australia) Published as: Walker RM. Assessing children’s fitness for scuba diving. MJA 2002; 176: 450. RRR ID: 7777

Walker RM. How old is old enough? SPUMS J 2003; 33(2): 78-80. RRR ID: 7778

Children in diving: how young is too young? SPUMS J 2003; 33(2) (Editorial) Reprinted with kind permission of PADI International from The Undersea Journal, 1999; 4th quarter: 88-92. RRR ID: 7779

Richardson D. Children and diving: the recreational-diving training perspective. SPUMS J 2003; 33(2): 83-89. (NOTE: Article followed by book review of "Children and scuba diving: a resource guide for instructors and parents." Reviewed by Taylor, L) RRR ID: 7780

I highly suggest the Richardson review, very interesting...

In other news, the RRR now has over 7,000 items!!!

 

[Aardvark]

I'd be at least as concerned about the risk/reward decision making at that age (and through adolesence). You could start here: Cognitive and Affective Development in Adolescence - Laurence Steinberg